SEOUL-- Two surveys announced Thursday showed mixed results for rival presidential candidates, Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Suk-yeol.
Lee of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) has overtaken Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) with 38 percent to 36 percent in a joint poll by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research.
Another poll by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) put Yoon ahead of Lee with 38.3 percent to 32.7 percent.
The gaps in both surveys are within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
In the four companies' poll conducted on 1,004 people from Monday to Wednesday, Lee gained 5 percentage points from last week, while Yoon climbed only 2 points.
This is the first time Lee has topped Yoon since the latter was named the PPP presidential nominee in the first week of November, the pollsters said.
In third place was Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, at 4 percent, followed by Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party at 3 percent.
Lee and Yoon tied at 39 percent for election probability.
More people, or 46 percent, viewed the March 9 presidential election as passing judgment on the Moon Jae-in administration, while 42 percent said they preferred stability in state affairs.
Lee was chosen as the candidate most likely to have good economic policies at 42 percent, followed by Yoon at 25 percent, Ahn at 6 percent and Sim at 2 percent.
Moon's approval rating lagged behind his disapproval rating 43 percent to 52 percent.
The PPP had the most support at 35 percent, trailed by the DP at 34 percent, the Progressive Party at 4 percent and the People's Party at 3 percent.
In the KSOI poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday, Yoon garnered 38.3 percent of support compared with Lee's 32.7 percent. Ahn and Sim scored 3.6 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.
Of the 1,012 people surveyed, 55.1 percent said they preferred a change of government through the upcoming election, while 37.8 percent wanted to see the DP remain in power.
Source: Yonhap News Agency