The support rating for the ruling People Power Party fell as the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea regained its lead in terms of party affiliation, with the president's impeachment trial poised to end Tuesday, a poll showed Friday.
According to Gallup Korea's poll of 1,002 potential South Korean voters conducted in the third week of February, those who identified as supporters of the ruling party amounted to 34 percent, down 5 percentage points from a week prior.
With declining support, the ruling party -- whose lawmakers have en masse protested President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial procedures -- conceded the lead it had held in the previous poll. Those who responded in support of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea rose 2 percentage points to 40 percent. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, putting their numbers just within the margin at opposite extremes.
Among those who identified as centrists, 22 percent supported the conservative ruling party, whereas the liberal opposition held 42 percent support.
Before Friday's result, the two rival parties had recently been practically neck and neck, as the gap in polls between the two had not been greater than 3 percentage points since early January.
According to Gallup Korea, witness testimonies and findings that countered President Yoon's statements at his impeachment trial appear to have contributed to a decline in the ruling party's support. Yoon's legal team has insisted that his martial law declaration was legitimate, the Cabinet meeting before imposing martial law had not been flawed and the president did not order the arrest of politicians.
Additionally, scandals surrounding Yoon's obscure political consultant Myung Tae-kyun -- a key figure in Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee's alleged influence-peddling -- have also piled pressure on the ruling party, Gallup Korea added.
The same poll suggested that 53 percent of respondents favored a power shift through a liberal presidential candidate's victory should an early presidential election take place after Yoon's potential removal from his post. The figure was up 2 percentage points from the previous week. Among those who identified themselves as centrists, 62 percent backed a power transition.
Those who opposed a power shift and supported a conservative candidate's win amounted to 37 percent, down 3 percentage points in a week.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
