President Moon's Job Performance: Positive 47% · Negative 42%... 'Golden Cross' [Gallup]

Party Support Ratings: Democratic Party 38% · People Power Party 18%
Next Presidential Election: Lee Jae-myung 20% · Lee Nak-yeon 17%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] A public opinion poll showed that positive evaluations of President Moon Jae-in's performance in office have once again surpassed negative evaluations.

Korea Gallup announced on the 16th that in a survey conducted from the 13th to the 15th targeting 1,001 adults aged 18 and over, 47% of respondents gave a positive evaluation of President Moon's job performance. This figure rose by 3 percentage points compared to the previous survey conducted in the fourth week of September. On the other hand, negative evaluations dropped by 6 percentage points to 42% compared to the previous survey.

By age group, the positive and negative rates were 37% and 38% for those aged 18-29 (hereafter '20s'), 54% and 38% for those in their 30s, 58% and 32% for those in their 40s, 48% and 45% for those in their 50s, and 39% and 51% for those aged 60 and above.

By political party support, 82% of supporters of the Democratic Party of Korea evaluated the president's job performance positively, while 89% of supporters of the People Power Party evaluated it negatively. Among those without a current party affiliation, the negative rate also led (positive 27% · negative 48%).

Regionally, the negative evaluation decline exceeded 10 percentage points in Incheon·Gyeonggi, Daegu·Gyeongbuk, and among 20s age group, conservative-leaning groups, and those without party affiliation compared to the previous survey.

When asked the reasons for positive evaluations of the president's job performance (465 respondents), the responses were 'Response to COVID-19' (29%), 'Overall good performance' (8%), 'Doing their best / working hard' (6%), 'Expansion of welfare' (5%), 'Faithfulness to basics / adherence to principles / fairness', 'Diplomacy / international relations', 'Efforts for ordinary people' (all 4%), followed by 'Relations with North Korea', 'Considering the people's position', and 'Economic policy' (all 3%).

Those who gave negative evaluations (417 respondents) cited reasons such as 'Real estate policy' (15%), 'Lack of solutions to economic and livelihood issues' (11%), 'Relations with North Korea' (10%), 'Personnel issues' (8%), 'Overall inadequacy' (7%), 'Autocratic / unilateral / biased' (5%), 'Unfairness / double standards' (4%), 'Inadequate COVID-19 response', and 'Poor communication' (both 3%).

Gallup analyzed, "The ongoing National Assembly audit since last week has covered various issues, so the reasons for negative evaluations appear to be spread across multiple areas. Compared to before Chuseok, mentions of real estate policy and North Korea-related issues have increased, which is presumed to be due to the new lease protection law implementation causing rental difficulties in the metropolitan area and the impact of the missing public official shooting incident before Chuseok."

Party support rates showed the Democratic Party rising by 1 percentage point to 38%. During the same period, support for the People Power Party fell by 3 percentage points to 18%. Other parties recorded support rates of 5% for the Justice Party, 4% for the People Party, and 3% for the Open Democratic Party.

In the next presidential candidate preference poll, Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung received 20%, and Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon received 17%. Following them were People Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo with 4%, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl with 3%, and independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo with 2%.

Compared to a survey conducted a month ago, Lee Jae-myung's support dropped by 2 percentage points from 22%, and Lee Nak-yeon's support fell by 4 percentage points from 21%. Among Democratic Party supporters, Lee Jae-myung's preference was 31%, and Lee Nak-yeon's was 36%.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This survey contacted 5,640 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final response of 1,001 people, recording an 18% response rate. The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.