President Moon's Approval Rating Drops Moderately to 44.7%... Impact of COVID-19 [Realmeter]

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] A public opinion poll revealed that President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for his administration's performance has significantly dropped to the mid-40% range. This decline is analyzed to be influenced by public dissatisfaction with the government's response amid the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Realmeter announced on the 27th that, according to a survey conducted on the 25th and 26th commissioned by tbs, the positive evaluation of President Moon's administration fell by 2.7 percentage points from the previous week's aggregate to 44.7%. Conversely, the negative evaluation rose by 1.9 percentage points to 51.0%.

The gap between positive and negative evaluations was 6.3 percentage points, marking the largest difference in 16 weeks since the first week of November last year (7.7 percentage points).

The approval rating decline was led by significant drops among those in their 20s (47.1%→41.3%) and 30s (53.0%→47.1%), students (48.9%→34.7%), and the moderate political group (41.6%→38.6%). Regionally, the largest decrease was seen in Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong areas (47.6%→41.2%), while Daegu and Gyeongbuk, the regions most affected by COVID-19, experienced nearly a 5 percentage point drop (30.4%→25.5%).

Realmeter previously forecasted, "There is a likelihood that the spread of COVID-19 and economic conditions will impact the national administration evaluation," adding, "There is a predicted risk that could cause a sudden drop at any time."

Regarding party support, the Democratic Party of Korea rose by 1.0 percentage point from the previous week to 41.5%. The United Future Party fell by 2.1 percentage points to 31.6% but remained in the 30% range.

The Justice Party increased by 0.3 percentage points to 4.4%, followed by the Minsheng Party at 3.8%, the Republican Party at 1.6%, the People's Party at 1.2%, and the Minjung Party at 1.0%.

This survey contacted 28,998 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final response of 1,514 participants, resulting in a 5.2% response rate. The sampling error is ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For detailed information, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.