The ruling party's approval rating has edged down, while the main opposition party has gained some support, following the high-profile departure of former opposition party chief, a poll showed Monday.

The poll released by polling agency Realmeter showed 40.2 percent of people approved last week of the job that the ruling Saenuri Party is doing, down 2.1 percentage points from a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the poll put the New Politics Alliance for Democracy's approval rating at 29.3 percent, up 2.4 percentage points.

The poll attributed the result to the departure of Ahn Cheol-soo, who co-led the main opposition NPAD last year, on Dec. 13. His desertion came following internal strife with incumbent NPAD Chairman Moon Jae-in.

President Park Geun-hye's job approval rating, meanwhile, has remained in the lower 40 percent range for two weeks in a row, according to the poll.

The poll showed 44 percent of respondents approved of Park's work, down two percentage points from a week earlier.

The survey was conducted on 2,843 adults between last Monday and Friday, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. (Yonhap)