The institute's poll showed Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko top with 24.2% of respondents saying they would vote for her, followed by opposition Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych with 20.7%.
Only 9.7% of respondents said they supported Yushchenko.
Vladimir Litvin, the leader of his eponymous bloc, received 6.8% of the votes, while 5.9% of those polled backed Parliamentary Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk, and 4% supported Communist leader Petro Simonenko.
As many as 5% of respondents said they would vote against all the candidates, 7% say they would not vote at all, while 13% had not made up their minds.
The survey was conducted on October 20-24, and involved a sample of 2,013 respondents. The margin of error is 2.3%.
The data provided by the National Institute for Strategic Studies, which is considered an advisory research body assisting the president and government, is somewhat different from earlier published poll results, which gave the president no more than 5% backing.
The presidential elections in Ukraine are due to be held in late 2009 or early 2010, depending on parliament's decision.
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