Lee Myung-bak Maintains Lead in Presidential Race Poll

According to the 18th pre-presidential election survey by the Dong-A Ilbo, Grand National Party presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak remains in the lead with an approval rating of 40.4 percent, followed by former GNP chairman Lee Hoi-chang (18.6 percent), United New Democratic Party presidential candidate Chung Dong-young (14.1 percent), Creative Korea Party presidential candidate Moon Kook-hyun (8.2 percent), Democratic Labor Party presidential candidate Kwon Young-ghil (3.1 percent), and Democratic Party presidential candidate Rhee In-je (2.1 percent).

At the request of the Dong-A Ilbo, the opinion polling company Korea Research Center (KRC) conducted an opinion survey on 1,500 adults nationwide on Saturday. A simulated race among Lee Myung-bak, Lee Hoi-chang, Chung Dong-young, and Kwon Young-ghil showed 41.5 percent, 20.5 percent, 18.5 percent and 4.8 percent returns for each candidate, respectively.

When asked which candidate has the highest chance of being elected president, an overwhelming 64.8 percent of respondents picked Lee Myung-bak, followed by Lee Hoi-chang (11.7 percent), Chung Dong-young (8.4 percent), Moon Kook-hyun (0.5 percent), Kwon Young-ghil (0.5 percent), and Rhee In-je (0.4 percent).

When asked which candidate between Chung Dong-young and Rhee In-je has more competitiveness against Lee Myung-bak, based on the possibility of their campaigns uniting to create a pan-ruling, coalition, more than five times the respondents picked Chung (72.7 percent) over Rhee (13.2 percent.)

With regard to the possibility a unifying candidate being chosen between Lee Myung-bak and Lee Hoi-chang, more than three times those surveyed answered, ”It will not happen,” (67.2 percent) compared with, “It will take place” (21.3 percent).

More than four times those surveyed also replied that, “Living conditions have not improved compared with five years ago,” (79.1 percent) compared with those that responded, “They have improved” (18.8 percent).

When asked what is the most important matter to consider in casting a vote in the upcoming presidential election, 55.5 percent picked capability and career, followed by polices and public pledges (25.4 percent), the images of the candidates (11.3 percent), and the party that the candidate belongs to (3.2 percent).

When asked to choose two reform tasks that the next government must undertake, educational reform (41.5 percent) topped the survey, followed by real estate policy reforms (34.2 percent), the ease of market regulations (25.1 percent), the alleviation of polarization (22.4 percent), and the downsizing of government bodies (21.7 percent).

Regarding President Roh Moo-hyun’s state management, 59.4 percent of respondents answered, “He is not doing well,” while 32.4 percent said, “He is doing well.”

swpark@donga.com