Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl is leading the race among prospective presidential hopefuls, while runner-up Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung has managed to narrow the gap in approval with Yoon, according to a new poll released Thursday.

According to the survey conducted on 2,004 voters nationwide from Monday-Tuesday by Realmeter, Yoon was the most favored candidate for the upcoming 2022 presidential election, receiving 30.5 percent of support. Lee came second, chalking up 25.3 percent approval.

Yoon's margin of lead against the governor stood at 5.2 percentage points, dropping 3 percentage points compared to a month ago.

The former top prosecutor boasted a comfortable lead immediately following his resignation from the prosecution service in early March. But his approval has experienced a downward trend as of late in various polls, while Lee has managed catch up closely with Yoon.

In the latest poll, the drop in Yoon's support was most prominent in the Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province region, down from 43.4 percent to 38.8 percent. The survey also showed that support for Yoon among 70-and-older voters fell from 36 percent to 33.4 percent.

Lee, on the other hand, saw his approval in the same region jump from 14.6 percent to 18.8 percent, while support from those older than 70 also climbed from 8.8 percent to 15.4 percent.

Lee Nak-yon, former head of the ruling Democratic Party, came in third place with 11.1 percent, followed by independent Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon with 5.4 percent, 3.8 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

The poll, commissioned by internet news outlet OhmyNews, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points at a 95 percent level of confidence. (Yonhap)