"President Yoon's Approval Rating Falls Below 30%... 70% Say He Should Apologize for Profanity Controversy - NBS"

NBS Poll Shows President Yoon's Approval Rating Drops 3 Percentage Points to 29%
Diplomatic Blunder 64%, Media Distortion 28%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Amid controversy over a diplomatic fiasco, President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating for his national administration has fallen below 30%. The public weighed more toward viewing the controversy over the use of vulgar language during his overseas trip as a diplomatic disaster rather than media distortion. Seven out of ten people expressed that President Yoon should apologize regarding the vulgar language controversy.

According to the National Barometer Survey (NBS) conducted from the 3rd to the 5th by Embrain Public, K-stat Research, Korea Research, and Hankook Research, surveying 1,000 men and women aged 18 and older nationwide, 29% responded positively to the question, "Do you think President Yoon is doing well as president?" (12% said very well, 17% said fairly well). This represents a 3 percentage point drop compared to the survey two weeks ago.

Those who responded negatively increased by 5 percentage points from two weeks ago to 65% (22% said somewhat poorly, 43% said very poorly).

By age group, negative evaluations outweighed positive ones in all generations except those aged 70 and above. In particular, only 12% of people in their 20s (ages 18-29) gave a positive evaluation. Regionally, negative opinions were high in all areas, including Daegu and Gyeongbuk.

Among those who evaluated the administration positively, the highest reason was "because it is fair and just" at 29%. This was followed by "because of decisiveness" at 26%, "because it is competent and rational" at 12%, "because of good communication with the people" at 11%, "because promised pledges are well implemented" at 8%, and "because it is unifying and inclusive" at 7%.

Among those who responded negatively, the top reason was "lack of experience and ability" at 36%. This was followed by "because it is arbitrary and one-sided" at 34%, "because inappropriate figures were appointed to high positions" at 11%, "because of lack of policy vision" at 7%, "because promised pledges were not fulfilled" at 5%, and "because of insufficient efforts for unity and cooperation" at 5%. The NBS explained that compared to the previous survey, the reason "because it is arbitrary and one-sided" increased significantly by 8 percentage points.

Regarding the controversy over President Yoon's use of vulgar language during his overseas trip, 64% responded that it was a "diplomatic fiasco caused by the president's verbal mistake," which was more than twice the 28% who said it was "media distortion without verifying facts."

Regarding the presidential office's response to MBC's broadcast report, 59% said it was an "excessive response suppressing freedom of the press," while 30% said it was an "appropriate response to false reports causing controversy."

Regarding the claim that the president should apologize, 70% agreed (strongly + somewhat), which was more than twice the 27% who disagreed (not at all + not really).

This survey was conducted via telephone interviews using 100% mobile phone virtual numbers, with weighting applied by gender, age, and region. The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, please refer to the website of the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.