The rate of respondents willing to vote for main opposition party candidates in the upcoming April 10 legislative election dropped by a whopping 9 percentage points from the previous month, poll results showed Wednesday.

In a survey conducted by local pollster Metrix on 1,000 Koreans aged 18 or older on March 2-3, when asked which party they would vote for "if the election was held tomorrow," some 26 percent of respondents chose candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. Specifically, the survey question asked which party the candidate of the voter’s choice belonged to.

The figure dropped by 9 percentage points on-month from the previous 35 percent observed in the corresponding Metrix survey conducted on Feb. 2-3.

Some 33 percent of respondents chose candidates from the ruling People Power Party in the latest survey. The support for the ruling party remained flat compared with the previous survey.

The candidates were not named in the survey.

By age, voters in their 60s and 70s showed overwhelming support for the ruling party in the latest survey. Some 51 percent of the voters in their 60s and 61 percent in their 70s chose the ruling party over other parties.

The Democratic Party received the most support from the voters in their 30s and 40s, with 26 percent of the respondents in their 30s and 46 percent in their 40s expressing support for the main opposition candidates.

Third parties that were launched before the upcoming election saw some support as well.

The National Innovation Party, launched earlier this month by Cho Kuk, a disgraced former Justice Minister, received the most support among such parties, with 3 percent. The New Reform Party, established by former People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok, trailed behind at 2 percent.

Meanwhile, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating rose 5 percentage points on-month to 39 percent, in the same period.

For a separate question asking voters which of the two current rival party leaders they would pick if the two decided to run in the 2027 presidential election, 33 percent chose People Power Party Interim Chair Han Dong-hoon. Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee Jae-myung earned 30 percent support, losing by a narrow margin.

The poll comes nearly a month ahead of the general election, with the rival parties having confirmed most of the candidates who will run for districts across the nation.