President Moon's Approval Rating Slightly Drops Amid 'LH Land Speculation Allegations' Fallout... Loss of Support Among Progressives and People in Their 40s [Realmeter]

President Moon, Positive 40.1% vs Negative 55.7%... 1%↓ Compared to 4th Week of February
Party Support Also Declines... People Power 32.0% vs Democratic Party 31.0%

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for his administration dropped by 1 percentage point compared to the fourth week of February. The decline was particularly notable among progressives and people in their 40s, and the support rate for the Democratic Party of Korea also fell in tandem.

According to a poll conducted by Realmeter on behalf of YTN from March 3 to 5, President Moon's approval rating (positive evaluation) was recorded at 40.1%, down 1.7 percentage points from the previous week, the agency announced on the 8th. The negative evaluation, indicating "doing poorly," rose by 2.1 percentage points to 55.7% compared to the fourth week of February, while the "don't know/no response" category decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 4.2%. The gap between positive and negative evaluations was 15.6 percentage points, which is outside the margin of error.

During the survey period, major issues included allegations of speculation involving the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH).

By region, approval ratings fell by 5.8 percentage points in Incheon·Gyeonggi and by 4.9 percentage points in Busan·Ulsan·Gyeongnam, resulting in approval ratings of 38.9% and 33.3%, respectively.

By ideological inclination, the decline was prominent among progressives, and by age group, among those in their 40s. The president's approval rating among progressives dropped by 5.9 percentage points to 69.2%, and among moderates, it fell by 1.7 percentage points to 34.1%. The 40s age group saw a 7.1 percentage point decrease to 50.1%. Additionally, approval ratings also declined by 3.4 percentage points, 2.8 percentage points, and 2.3 percentage points among those in their 60s (31.1%), 50s (42.3%), and 30s (39.7%), respectively, compared to the previous week.

In terms of party support, the People Power Party led the Democratic Party of Korea by 1.0 percentage point, which is within the margin of error.

The Democratic Party of Korea's support rate decreased by 1.9 percentage points to 31.0%, while the People Power Party's support rose by 1.3 percentage points to 32.0%.

In Seoul, where the April by-election will be held, the People Power Party led in party support.

The People Power Party's support in Seoul increased by 4.7 percentage points to 34.2%, while the Democratic Party of Korea's support fell by 1.7 percentage points to 29.6%.

Meanwhile, the People's Party's support rose by 0.9 percentage points to 8.1%, and the Open Democratic Party and the Justice Party each increased by 0.1 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points to 6.8% and 5.2%, respectively.

This survey contacted 35,348 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final 2,006 respondents completing the survey, resulting in a response rate of 5.7%. The sampling error is ±2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.