SEOUL-- Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has narrowed his gap with his main opposition rival Yoon Seok-youl to 1 percentage point in a hypothetical four-way race, a survey showed Thursday.
Lee of the liberal Democratic Party garnered 35 percent support against Yoon of the conservative People Power Party's 36 percent, according to the survey of 1,004 adults conducted Monday through Wednesday by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research.
Lee gained 3 percentage points from last week, while Yoon lost 3 points.
Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, came third with 5 percent, followed by Sim Sang-jeung of the progressive Justice Party with 4 percent.
When asked about the candidates' likelihood of winning the March 9 election, 42 percent of the respondents chose Yoon, while 38 percent picked Lee.
President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose 5 percentage points to 44 percent.
Support for the PPP came to 36 percent against the Democratic Party's 33 percent, narrowing the difference to 3 percentage points from last week's 8 points.
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
Source: Yonhap News Agency