Gallup: "People Power Party Approval Rating at 45%, Highest in 7.5 Years... Democratic Party Drops by 10%p"

President Yoon's Approval Rating Rises 11%p in First Week of Inauguration

Lee Jun-seok, leader of the People Power Party, is attending the 1st meeting of the Central Election Countermeasures Committee for the nationwide local elections held at the National Assembly on the 9th, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Nayeon] A public opinion poll released on the 13th showed that the approval rating of the new ruling party, the People Power Party, reached its highest level in 7 years and 6 months, coinciding with President Yoon Seok-yeol's inauguration. Conversely, the Democratic Party's approval rating dropped sharply by 10 percentage points in just one week, indicating a rapid shift in party support during the regime change period.

According to a survey conducted by Gallup Korea from the 10th to the 12th among 1,000 adults nationwide aged 18 and over, the People Power Party's approval rating rose by 5 percentage points from the previous week to 45%. This is the highest record in 7 years and 6 months since November 2014.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party's approval rating fell by 10 percentage points in one week to 31%. This appears to be influenced by President Yoon's inauguration and the sexual misconduct allegations against Park Wan-joo, a three-term senior member of the Democratic Party.

Gallup stated that a similar phenomenon of sharp fluctuations in party approval ratings occurred right after the launch of a new government five years ago. When Moon Jae-in was inaugurated as president in May 2017 and the Democratic Party became the ruling party, its approval rating surged by 13 percentage points compared to the previous survey, while the opposition parties at the time, the Liberty Korea Party and the People's Party, saw their approval ratings drop by 7 and 6 percentage points, respectively, during the same period.

Photo by Hankook Gallup

President Yoon's job performance received positive and negative evaluations of 52% and 37%, respectively.

Compared to the regular public opinion poll conducted in the first week of May when he was president-elect, the positive evaluation increased by 11 percentage points. The positive evaluations were high among People Power Party supporters (82%), conservatives (73%), and those aged 60 and above (in the 70% range), while negative evaluations were high among Democratic Party supporters (68%), progressives (63%), and those in their 40s and 50s (in the 50% range).

Regarding expectations for national governance over the next five years, 60% responded that he would "do well," while 28% said he would "do poorly." Historically, the expectations for national governance immediately after presidential inaugurations were over 80% on average, with former Presidents Kim Young-sam at 85%, Lee Myung-bak at 79%, Park Geun-hye at 79%, and Moon Jae-in at 87%.

This survey was conducted by randomly selecting samples from a wireless phone RDD sample frame (including 10% wired phone RDD), with interviewers conducting telephone interviews. The response rate was 10.3%, and the sampling error was ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, please refer to the website of the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.