Approval ratings for Ahn Cheol-soo, the widely popular liberal professor believed to have presidential ambitions, jumped following his decision to announce whether he will actually run in December's election as early as next week, polls showed Friday.
The 50-year-old computer software mogul, who has been widely viewed as a potential opposition contender, said through his spokesman earlier this week that he will make his plan known "within a few days after" the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) nominates its candidate.
The opposition party is scheduled to pick its standard-bearer on Sunday, but if none of its four contenders wins 50 percent or more of all votes cast in the party's ongoing primary, it will hold a run-off between the top two on Sept. 23.
In a survey of 1,500 people on Wednesday and Thursday, Ahn's approval rating stood at 45.1 percent in a hypothetical two-way race against the ruling Saenuri Party's presidential candidate, Park Geun-hye, who garnered 45.4 percent, according to polling agency Realmeter.
Ahn, whose ratings started to drop earlier this month, was able to catch up with Park as the ruling party candidate's ratings slipped on her controversial remarks on the authoritarian rule of her father, late President Park Chung-hee, the polling agency said. Ahn's clearer indication of a possible presidential bid was also seen as having boosted his popularity among supporters of the opposition camp.
In a hypothetical multi-way race, Ahn recorded 25.9 percent, up 2.5 percentage points from a survey earlier this week, which also narrowed his gap with Park's 39.7 percent. (Yonhap)