The tide of the presidential race in South Korea has shifted again, poll results showed Monday, this time again in favor of presidential nominee Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party.
Successful campaign efforts from Yoon’s side following the end of a damaging internal feud, as well as the abrupt death of a whistleblower in a case involving main rival Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, are believed to have aided Yoon in garnering more support in the last week.
A Realmeter poll of 3,031 voters commissioned by OhmyNews that ran from Jan. 9 to Friday showed Yoon leading with 40.6 percent support, up 6.5 percentage points from a week earlier. He is followed by Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party at 36.7 percent, down 3.4 percent points on-week.
Yoon was leading the race with 3.9 percentage points distance from Lee, which is outside the margin of error at plus or minus 1.8 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level for the latest survey.
The sudden change in voter support is largely credited to Yoon’s efforts to appeal to young male voters with campaign promises like abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and providing 2 million won ($1,680) a month in wages for conscripted service members.
He has also stayed in line with the conservative bloc’s hard-line stance on North Korea, emphasizing the need for a "preemptive strike" last week after North Korea conducted its second missile test of the year.
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