DP leads PPP by 1.6 percentage points in tight party approval race: poll

Support for the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party is locked in a statistical dead heat, a new poll showed Monday.

The Democratic Party recorded an approval rating of 38.7 percent in a survey conducted by pollster Yeoronjosakkot from Friday to Saturday, released Monday. The poll surveyed 1,002 adults aged 18 and older nationwide using 100 percent wireless computer-assisted telephone interviewing.

That figure was down 2.5 percentage points from 41.2 percent in the previous survey, conducted Oct. 30-31.

The People Power Party, meanwhile, posted 37.1 percent, up 1.3 percentage points from 35.8 percent in the prior poll.

The gap between the two parties narrowed to 1.6 percentage points — within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Among other parties, the Rebuilding Korea Party stood at 7.3 percent, the Reform Party at 1.8 percent and the Progressive Party at 1.4 percent.

Some 12.9 percent of respondents said they supported no party, while 0.7 percent named another party and 0.2 percent gave no answer or said they did not know.

The poll had a response rate of 10.0 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. Further details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.