Star IT expert and professor Ahn Cheol-soo, who has jolted South Korean politics with his explosive popularity as a potential Seoul mayor, even has more support as a presidential candidate than leading contender Park Geun-hye, a survey showed Wednesday.

Ahn, the 49-year-old founder of South Korea's best-known anti-virus software firm Ahnlab, had 43.2 percent of support against Park's 40.6 percent in a survey of 700 adults conducted by polling agency Realmeter on Tuesday right after Ahn dropped his mayoral bid.

The radio station CBS-commissioned survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

It was the first time in years that Rep. Park of the ruling Grand National Party has lost her lead as a presidential contender in any popularity surveys, suggesting that Ahn could be a factor in next year's presidential vote even though he has flatly denied having ambitions for the top office.

Park, who is a daughter of late former president Park Chung-hee and aspiring to become South Korea's first female president, has been far ahead of other possible contenders from both the ruling and opposition parties with more than 30 percent of support.

Ahn, a former medical doctor who gained fame in the 1990s after establishing the anti-virus software firm, is widely popular, especially among young Koreans, due largely to his clean and upright image. He is now dean of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology at Seoul National University.

Analysts have said that Ahn's popularity also illustrates the distrust South Koreans have in existing politicians and political parties, which have often come under fire for engaging in factional or partisan fighting without caring for ordinary people.

The public sees Ahn as a fresh alternative to the current political establishment, they said.

Recent surveys also put Ahn well ahead of other hopefuls for Seoul mayor with as much as 50 percent.

However, Ahn announced Tuesday that he decided against a run and will instead back Park Won-soon, a lawyer-turned-liberal activist. Park is a civic leader who founded the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, one of the country's largest civic groups.

Ahn said that he believes Park can perform better than anyone else as Seoul mayor.

Some newspapers speculated that Ahn could be targeting the top office instead of mayor, but Ahn flatly dismissed such speculation.

"No way. I don't even have time to think about it," he told reporters Wednesday. Ahn also said that he believes it is a "passing" phenomenon that he is ahead of Rep. Park in popularity as a presidential candidate. (Yonhap News)