This combination of photos provided by Yonhap News TV shows potential presidential candidates Lee Nak-yon (L), Lee Jae-myung (C) and Yoon Seok-youl. (Yonhap News TV)
Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl were tied atop the list of potential candidates for next year's presidential election, a new poll showed Friday.
Yoon has soared in opinion surveys since he resigned on March 4 in protest of the ruling Democratic Party (DP)'s push to create a new investigative body that reduces the prosecution's power.
Gallup Korea, a pollster, said both Gov. Lee and Yoon garnered 24 percent of support in its latest survey conducted for three days until Thursday.
Support for Lee, affiliated with the DP, dropped 3 percentage points from the previous month while Yoon's figure increased 15 percentage points.
Among DP supporters, 43 percent favor Lee as the next president while 64 percent of followers of the main opposition People Power Party (DP) picked Yoon.
Lee Nak-yon, who resigned as DP leader Tuesday, was a distant third with 11 percent, up 1 percentage point from a month before.
Coming next were Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the minor People's Party, with 3 percent and independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo with 2 percent.
Gov. Lee and Yoon have been locked in a tight race in opinion polls since late last week, alternately taking the front-runner position.
Yoon ranked first with 32.4 percent in a poll by the Korea Society Opinion Institute announced Monday. He was trailed by Gov. Lee with 24.1 percent and former DP leader Lee with 14.9 percent.
The Gallup Korea poll also found 48 percent of respondents wish an opposition candidate will win the election while 40 percent hope the DP will hold on to power.
The DP's support grew 3 percentage points month-on-month to 35 percent, and the PPP's support was up 1 percentage point to 25 percent.
Regarding the April 7 mayoral elections, the DP outpolled the PPP by 34 percent to 26 percent in Seoul and 30 percent to 26 percent in Busan.
President Moon Jae-in's approval rating declined 2 percentage points to 38 percent, while negative appraisal of his job performance was up 3 percentage points to 54 percent.
The poll was conducted on 1,003 people aged 18 or older across the country. It has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. (Yonhap)