President Moon's approval rating recovers to the 50% range... highest this year [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 has surpassed 50% for the first time in over seven months.

Realmeter, commissioned by tbs, announced on the 26th that a survey conducted from the 23rd to the 25th showed a positive evaluation of President Moon's administration rising by 3.2 percentage points from the previous week's aggregate to 52.5%. This is the highest level this year. Meanwhile, negative evaluations dropped by 3.8 percentage points to 44.1%.

The gap between positive and negative evaluations stands at 8.4 percentage points, which is outside the margin of error. It is the first time in 33 weeks since the first week of August last year that positive evaluations have exceeded the margin of error. At that time, positive evaluations also surpassed 50%.

By region, positive evaluations increased in Daejeon·Sejong·Chungcheong (46.7%→55.1%), Daegu·Gyeongbuk (33.3%→38.7%), Busan·Ulsan·Gyeongnam (36.8%→41.8%), and Gwangju·Jeolla (76.6%→80.7%).

By age group, approval ratings rose among those in their 50s (47.3%→52.5%), 40s (60.9%→65.6%), and 60 and older (39.1%→42.7%).

By occupation, approval ratings increased among labor workers (46.5%→54.6%), unemployed (40.0%→48.1%), office workers (58.9%→61.9%), and homemakers (42.5%→45.5%). However, the student group saw a 3.0 percentage point drop from 52.1% to 49.1%.

This rise in approval ratings is analyzed to be influenced by positive evaluations of the government's response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

In the proportional representation voting intention survey for the general election, the response for voting for the proportional alliance party led by the Democratic Party, the Together Citizens' Party, dropped by 9.1 percentage points from the previous week to 28.9%. The Future Korea Party, the proportional party of the United Future Party, fell by 1.4 percentage points to 28.0%.

The Open Democratic Party recorded 11.6%, the Justice Party dropped by 0.6 percentage points to 5.4%, and the People's Party fell by 1.2 percentage points to 4.9%. Other parties were below 3%.

The sharp decline of the Citizens' Party appears to be due to a significant portion of Democratic Party supporters shifting to the Open Democratic Party, which appeared in this survey for the first time. Realmeter analyzed, "Democratic Party supporters are largely split between the Citizens' Party (58.4%) and the Open Democratic Party (23.0%), with only a small portion supporting the Justice Party (3.8%)."

Party support ratings were recorded as follows: Democratic Party 45.0%, United Future Party 29.8%, Justice Party 4.7%, People's Party 3.6%, Minsheng Party 2.1%, Liberty Republican Party 2.0%, Pro-Park Shin Party 1.6%, and Minjung Party 0.8%.

This survey contacted 28,697 voters aged 18 and older nationwide, with a final response of 1,518 people, resulting in a 5.3% response rate. The sampling error is ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.