Lee Myung-bak Leads in Latest Presidential Race Poll

According to the 15th pre-presidential election survey by the Dong-A Ilbo, the approval rating for Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak is 54.6 percent, followed by United New Democratic Party presidential candidate Chung Dong-young (16.2 percent), Creative Korea Party presidential candidate Moon Kook-hyun (7.3 percent), Democratic Labor Party presidential candidate Kwon Young-ghil (3.2 percent), Democratic Party presidential candidate Rhee In-je (2.4 percent, and People First Party presidential candidate Shim Dae-pyung (0.5 percent).

At the request of the Dong-A Ilbo, the opinion polling company Korea Research Center (KRC) conducted an opinion survey on 1,000 adults nationwide on Saturday, which also showed that if former GNP chairman Lee Hoi-chang decides to run, Lee Myung-bak would receive 41.5 percent of the vote, followed by Lee Hoi-chang (20.3 percent), Chung Dong-young (14.8 percent), Moon Kook-hyun (7.3 percent), Kwon Young-ghil (2.6 percent), Rhee In-je (1.9 percent), and Shim Dae-pyung (0.7 percent).

Meanwhile, a simulated race among Lee Myung-bak, Chung Dong-young, and Kwon Young-ghil, showed that approval ratings would be 60.4 percent, 23.2 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively. When Lee Hoi-chang was added, the approval rating of Lee Myung-bak stood at 43.0 percent, followed by Lee Hoi-chang (25.0 percent), Chung Dong-young (18.5 percent), and Kwon Young-ghil (6.3 percent).

When asked which economic policy the next president should put the most emphasis on, 69.3 percent of the respondents chose “market-driven economic policies,” while only 27.6 percent picked “government-led economic policies.”

swpark@donga.com