Grand National Party candidate Lee Myung-bak still leads the pack with the approval ratings of more than 50 percent a mere 50 days from the presidential election. According to a survey by Gallup Korea at the request of the Chosun Ilbo, Lee took first place with approval ratings of 53.7 percent, followed by the United New Democratic Party¡¯s Chung Dong-young with 17.1 percent and Moon Kook-hyun, a former chief executive of Yuhan Kimberly, with 9.1 percent. Rhee In-je of the Democratic Party came in fourth with 4.2 percent and Democratic Labor Party presidential nominee Kwon Young-ghil ranked fifth with 3.9 percent.
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(From left) Presidential candidates Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party, Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party, Moon Kook-hyun, a former chief executive of Yuhan Kimberly, Rhee In-je of the Democratic Party, and Kwon Young-ghil of the Democratic Labor Party.
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The survey shows that the presidential race has been run by one strong, one average and three weak players since the UNDP and Democratic Party selected their presidential candidates. Lee saw his approval ratings drop 1.8 points from 55.5 percent in a similar Gallup survey conducted two weeks ago on Oct. 16. But he is still ahead of second placer Chung by a large margin of 36.6 points. Chung, the most popular candidate among contenders in the progressive camp, enjoyed a 10-point surge in approval ratings immediately after he was chosen as the presidential candidate of the UNDP. In the latest poll, he saw a 0.9 percentage points jump from the previous survey. Moon appeared to gain momentum, as shown in a 3.8 percentage points growth in approval ratings. Rhee¡¯s support ratings rose 1.2 percentage points.
Asked who is the most promising single candidate to represent the broad ruling camp, 41.3 percent of respondents chose Chung, 16.6 percent preferred Moon and 11.5 percent picked Rhee. The survey of 1,000 people of 19 years and older had a confidence level of 95 percent with a 3.1 percentage points margin of error.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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