Moon Jae-in, former head of the Democratic Party, stood as the most favored presidential hopeful for the 10th consecutive week, a poll showed Thursday, one day before the Constitutional Court rules on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

According to the poll conducted by Realmeter, Moon posted an approval rating of 36.1 percent, beating all other contenders. The poll was conducted from Monday to Wednesday on 1,530 South Koreans, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
 

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn posted 14.2 percent. South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, both from the Democratic Party, posted 12.9 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively.

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party posted 9.9 percent, the data showed. South Gyeongsang Gov. Hong Joon-pyo from the ruling Liberty Korea Party posted 3.3 percent, followed by Rep. Yoo Seong-min of the Bareun Party with 3.2 percent.

By party, the Democratic Party posted 49.3 percent, followed by the Liberty Korea Party with 13.5 percent and the People's Party with 10.3 percent. The Bareun Party and the Justice Party both held comparable figures of 6 percent.

Concerning Park's trial at the Constitutional Court, 76.9 percent claimed that the president should be removed from office, while 20.3 percent said the court should reject the impeachment.

Park was impeached by the parliament in December on a corruption scandal involving her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil, who exerted influence on state affairs without any official seat in the administration. (Yonhap)