Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is leading his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung with 42 percent public support against Lee's 36.8 percent, a survey showed Monday.

Yoon of the People Power Party (PPP) gained 1.4 percentage points from the previous week, while Lee of the Democratic Party edged up 0.1 point, according to the Realmeter survey conducted on 3,046 adults from Jan. 16 to 21.

Yoon led Lee by 5.2 percentage points, which was outside the margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, lost 2.9 percentage points to post 10 percent, marking the first decline in six weeks.

Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party earned 2.5 percent.

Asked to pick the candidate most likely to win, 45.2 percent chose Yoon, while 43.3 percent picked Lee.

Yoon's rating was up 3.3 percentage points, while Lee's was down 2.9 points.

President Moon Jae-in's job performance received 41 percent approval and 55.1 percent disapproval.

Support for each political party stood at 38.4 percent for the PPP, 31.9 percent for the DP, 8.7 percent for the People's Party, 4.9 percent for the Open Democratic Party and 3.8 percent for the Justice Party. (Yonhap)

For more information regarding the survey results, visit the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission homepage.