Poll shows Roh leading all rivals

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Poll shows Roh leading all rivals

Roh Moo-hyun, who has come from behind to position himself as the likely winner of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party's presidential primary, pulled ahead of leading Grand National candidate Lee Hoi-chang in a survey of potential voters released Tuesday.

The JoongAng Ilbo polled 1,094 people nationwide Monday. Mr. Roh earned 60.5 percent support, easily outdistancing Mr. Lee, who won 32.6 percent.

Mr. Roh, a former human rights lawyer, widened his advantage over Mr. Lee in under a month. In a March 19 poll by the JoongAng Ilbo Mr. Roh led Mr. Lee by 21.4 percentage points.

Mr. Roh fared even better when hypothetically placed head-to-head against the lesser-known candidates in the opposition Grand National Party's primary Lee Bu-young and Choe Byung-yul. He won 73.2 percent support to Lee Bu-young's 13.2 percent, and Mr. Choe managed to take just 12.6 percent against him.

Asked who they would select in a race between Lee Hoi-chang and Rhee In-je, who is running second in the MDP primary, the survey showed 51.4 percent of the respondents choosing Mr. Lee to 34.5 percent for Mr. Rhee.

Mr. Rhee leads if he were to face off with either Lee Bu-young or Mr. Choe in the December presidential election with 47.3 percent to Mr. Choe's 29 percent, and 47.9 percent to Lee Bu-young's 27.4 percent.

Almost 30 percent of the respondents described themselves as "conservative," and 26.6 percent called themselves "liberal." The largest group, 41.8 percent, identified themselves as moderates.

The number of self-described liberals surveyed was about the same as the number that rated the Kim Dae-jung administration's performance as "good." About 26 percent said the administration has done well, despite the shroud of recent allegations of corruption involving the president's sons and associates.

Almost 25 percent of those polled said they support the Grand National Party. Supporters of the Millennium Democratic Party made up 23.3 percent, while the conservative United Liberal Democrats trailed far behind with 1.6 percent. Almost half 49.4 percent said they support no particular party.

The survey has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

by Ahn Boo-keun

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