Moon's Approval Rating Hits Bottom and Rebounds... 4th Anniversary Approval at 36% [Realmeter]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 10th, marking the 4th anniversary of President Moon Jae-in's inauguration, a public opinion poll showed a slight increase in the approval rating of the government, rebounding to the mid-30% range.

According to a poll conducted by Realmeter commissioned by YTN over four days from the 3rd to 4th and 6th to 7th, surveying 2,015 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, the positive evaluation of President Moon's administration rose by 3.0 percentage points from the previous week to 36.0%. The negative evaluation decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 60.3%, narrowing the gap between positive and negative evaluations to 24.3 percentage points compared to 29.6 percentage points the previous week. The 'Don't know/No response' rate was 3.7%. This is analyzed as a change from the box-range trend observed after the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) speculation allegations.

By region, Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam saw the largest increase, rising 10.0 percentage points to 33.5%. Daegu and Gyeongbuk (25.7%) and Seoul (33.8%) also rose by 3.6 percentage points and 2.4 percentage points respectively compared to the previous week.

By age group, approval ratings slightly rebounded among those aged 40 and above. The approval ratings for the 40s (50.4%), 50s (42.4%), and 60s (29.1%) increased by 9.5 percentage points, 8.6 percentage points, and 2.9 percentage points respectively from the previous week. However, the 20s (25.7%) and 30s (37.6%) saw decreases of 1.2 percentage points and 2.6 percentage points respectively. Notably, the negative evaluation among those in their 20s was 68.3%, the second highest after those aged 70 and above (70.1%).

Realmeter analyzed that the rebound in President Moon's approval rating was influenced by his active response to COVID-19, including presiding over special COVID-19 prevention inspection meetings, and his withdrawal of the intention to punish related to the president's 'criticism leaflets' insult charges. Additionally, the positive evaluation was attributed to the cooperation shown between the Blue House and the party after meeting with the newly appointed Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil.

A Realmeter official stated, "The president's approval rating appears to have bottomed out and is rising," adding, "Attention is focused on potential changes in public opinion this week depending on the content of the special 4th anniversary inaugural speech regarding the government's direction in the final term, future vaccine supply, and the scale of personnel hearing failures."

Regarding party approval ratings, the People Power Party (35.3%) fell by 2.0 percentage points from the previous week, while the Democratic Party of Korea (30.2%) rose by 2.4 percentage points, narrowing the gap between the two parties to 5.1 percentage points. Although the People Power Party has led outside the margin of error for eight consecutive weeks, this is the smallest gap since the LH speculation scandal occurred.

Other parties ranked as follows: the People's Party (7.3%), Open Democratic Party (5.6%), and Justice Party (4.5%).

This survey attempted to contact 34,926 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final response of 2,015, yielding a response rate of 5.8%. The sampling error is ±2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Detailed survey methodology and results can be found on the Realmeter or Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission websites.