[AKYUNG Poll] President Moon, Democratic Party Support Both Decline... People Power Party Hits Highest This Year

President Moon's Approval Rating at 44.3%, Disapproval at 54.2%
Democratic Party 34.0% vs People Power Party 33.8%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] President Moon Jae-in's positive evaluation of his state affairs management and the Democratic Party of Korea's approval ratings both declined. This is interpreted as a burden caused by the increase in COVID-19 cases and the forced passage of contentious bills such as the amendment to the Media Arbitration Act.

On the 24th, Asia Economy commissioned Win-Gi Korea Consulting to conduct a public opinion survey targeting 1,024 voters aged 18 and older nationwide from the 21st to 22nd, using 100% mobile phone virtual numbers and automated responses. The result showed that the positive response rate for President Moon's state affairs management was 44.3%, down 1.5 percentage points from 45.8% in the previous survey conducted in the first week of August (August 7-8). During the same period, the negative response rate of 'not doing well' rose significantly by 3.1 percentage points from 51.1% to 54.2%. Accordingly, the gap between positive and negative evaluations, which had been around 5 percentage points in the last three surveys, widened to 9.9 percentage points in this survey. The 'don't know' response was 1.6%.

By region, positive evaluations were dominant in Gwangju and Jeolla (63.2%), while negative evaluations were higher in the 50% range in Gyeonggi and Incheon (45.1%), Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (43.8%), Seoul (42.2%), Gangwon and Jeju (43.3%), Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong (41.1%), and Daegu and Gyeongbuk (31.3%).

By age group, positive evaluations in the 40s rose by 2.5 percentage points from 60.3% in the previous survey to 62.8%, but in the 20s, 60s, and 70s and older, support rates were in the low to mid-30% range, with negative evaluations dominating at around 60%. This appears to be influenced by the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and the ruling party's legislative dominance as it pushes through pending legislative tasks ahead of the Moon administration's last regular National Assembly session in September.

This was also reflected in party approval ratings, with the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party showing contrasting fortunes. The Democratic Party's approval rating dropped 2.5 percentage points from the previous survey to 34.0%, while the People Power Party rose 3.7 percentage points to 33.8%, marking its highest level this year. As a result, the gap between the two parties narrowed significantly from 6.4 percentage points to 0.2 percentage points, showing a 'decimal point difference' for the first time in about two months since the fourth week of June. Other parties followed in order with the Open Democratic Party at 6.3%, the Justice Party at 4.0%, the People Party at 3.4%, and other parties at 3.1%, while the non-affiliated group (no party support or unsure) accounted for 15.5%.

This survey was conducted by Asia Economy through Win-Gi Korea Consulting from the 21st to 22nd targeting voters aged 18 and older nationwide, with 1,024 respondents and an overall response rate of 7.0%. The survey method was wireless ARS using 100% mobile phone virtual numbers, and the sample was extracted with weighted values by gender, age, and region based on the resident registration population as of the end of January 2021 by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (cell weighting). The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For detailed survey information, refer to the Win-Gi Korea Consulting website or the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.