By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Economy voters, seeking a presidential candidate with strong managerial skills, are mainly responsible for the double-digit gap in approval ratings between the frontrunner and the runner-up candidate, said poll experts.
With 25 days to go before the presidential election, a recent poll said the gap in approval ratings between the frontrunner and runner-up candidates is as big as 16.8 percentage points.
Poll experts say that such voters have rarely withdrawn their staunch support for the frontrunner Lee Myung-bak, even after allegations that he is allegedly involved in suspicions regarding his wealth.
The gap in approval ratings between frontrunner and second placed candidate is much bigger than it was five years ago.
Grand National Party (GNP) nominee Lee had 37.3 percent support while independent Lee Hoi-chang's rating stood at 20.5 percent in the poll.
United New Democratic Party (UNDP) candidate Chung Dong-young's rating marked 16.4 percent in the same survey conducted on Nov. 19.
The 16.8-point gap is considered to be wide, compared with the 6.5 percentage points five years ago.
The Dong-A Ilbo poll on Nov. 27 in 2002 found then frontrunner candidate Roh Moo-hyun had 43.5 percentage support, ahead of runner-up Lee Hoi-chang's 37 percent.
Poll expert Kim Ji-yun of Millard Brown told The Korea Times that economy voters are partly responsible for the double-digit figure gap.
According to Kim, supporters of the former Seoul mayor comprise two separate groups: GNP voters and economy voters who prefer Lee to others mainly because of his economy-first trademark.
``The ideology competition between conservatives vs. liberals was distinctive in the 2002 presidential election campaigns. This is not the case this year,'' Kim said.
Another poll expert Han Gui-young of the Korea Society Opinion Institute was in agreement with Kim's assessment.
Han saw about 60 percent of Lee's supporters being purely focused on his economic policies.
The remaining 40 percent of Lee supporters are loyal GNP voters, Han said.
She said the 60 percent have rarely withdrawn their support, even though a series of scandals have put a question mark regarding Lee's integrity.
Some poll experts said many middle-of-the-road voters are also behind Lee.
Poll expert Kim differed with this assessment saying some of them back independent Lee Hoi-chang and some support UNDP Chung. ``Therefore it is hard to say if the majority of moderate voters back the former Seoul mayor,'' Kim said.