Chosun Ilbo and Gallup Korea poll on May 22 of 1,062 adults nationwide concerning support for presidential rivals Roh Mu-hyun of the Millennium Democratic Party and the Grand National Party's Lee Hoi-chang showed 42.6% favoring the former over the latter's 37.4% with some 20% of respondents undecided. The poll showed support for Roh has dropped 7.7% in just over a month after a peak of 50.3% on April 16, while Lee's backing rose by 4% points from its lowest 33.4% over the same period.
The gap between the two has narrowed since April 2's 16.1% to April 16's 14.8%, May 1's 11.4%, May 12th's 7% and finally May 22nd's 5.2% points.
If the Korean Coalition for the Future's Park Keun-hye and independent Chung Mong-joon join the presidential race, the gap between Roh (33.4%) and Lee (32.7%) falls to just 0.7% points, while Park and Chung gain 8% and 7.2%, respectively.
As to the question about the most probable winner of the presidential race, Lee with 46.2% outpaced Roh's 26.5% among respondents, while party support showed the GNP (31%) heading the MDP (23.8%), by 7.2%, up from 0.6% in the April 16 poll.
Compared with the same poll by Gallup Korea about ten days ago on April 12, Roh¡¯s lead in support among people in their 20s dropped slightly from 31.1% to 30.5%, while among people in the 30s gained a little from 23.8% to 24.5%. Among those in their 40s and 50s, on the other hand, Lee's support rose 2.3% and to 4.3%, to 20.9% and 25.4%, respectively.
(Hong Yeong-lim, ylhong@chosun.com)
