Yoon leads Lee in hypothetical two-way race: polls
Lee Jae-myung, left, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), and Yoon Suk-yeol, right, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), appear before the first TV debate among four of the presidential candidates, held at a studio of local broadcaster KBS on Seoul, Feb. 3. Joint Press Corps
Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol leads his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung in a hypothetical two-way race, according to polls conducted before Yoon merged candidacies with Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor People's Party.
According to a survey conducted by Embrain Public from Tuesday to Wednesday, Yoon led Lee 45.9 percent to 45 percent in a hypothetical two-way race. The gap of 0.9 percentage point was within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.
In another survey conducted by Embrain Public from Monday to Wednesday, Yoon led Lee 47.4 percent to 41.5 percent in a hypothetical two-way race. The 5.9-percentage point gap points was outside the margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
Earlier in the day, Ahn dropped out of the race and declared his support for Yoon.
The merger could boost Yoon's chances in the tight race where he and Lee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea have been running neck and neck with support of around 40 percent each in recent polls, while Ahn has had around 10 percent.
By law, polls conducted within six days of the election cannot be published until after voting closes, but polls conducted before the restriction can be published. (Yonhap)