Democratic United Party presidential candidate Moon Jae-in’s approval ratings continued to rise recently, as Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye deals with an internal feud and independent Ahn Cheol-soo faces public doubt of his ability to govern.

In polls conducted by research firms Gallup Korea and Realmeter, Moon has gained significant ground in three-candidate polls.

The figures compiled by Realmeter in the first week of October are 37 percent, 28.6 percent and 22.1 percent for Park, Ahn and Moon, respectively. Compared to the previous week, Moon’s rating rose 1.2 percent, while Ahn saw a drop of 3.1 percent and Park an increase of 1.1 percent.

Gallup Korea puts the figures for the same period at 40 percent for Park, 26 percent for Ahn and 24 percent for Moon.

While Moon remains last among the three main candidates, his ratings in one-on-one polls, where two candidates are compared at a time, have increased significantly.

In a poll putting Moon up against Park, the DUP candidate received 47 percent of the support, matching that of Park for the first time. Compared to the previous week, Park’s rating increased by 1 percent while that of Moon rose by 2 percent.

Moon’s advance was most pronounced in the poll for the preferred unified progressive candidate, with 50 percent of the respondents preferring the DUP candidate over Ahn.

“Moon’s confirmation as the DUP candidate in the preliminaries, traditional DUP supporters gathering behind Moon, and the fall in Ahn’s approval ratings. These are the three factors that fueled the rise,” Korea Society Opinion Institute senior research Yoon Hee-woong said.

“The increase in Moon’s approval rating in one-on-one polls is partly caused by the fact that non-Saenuri supporters have become more hopeful in bringing about a regime change after Ahn entered the race.”

As for Moon’s ratings in the coming weeks, Yoon said that much of it depends on whether he can attract voters with moderate political views who currently support Ahn and expanding the support base in the Jeolla provinces.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)