President Yoon's Approval Rating Rises for 3 Consecutive Weeks... "Handled Labor Unions Well"

President Yoon's Approval Rating Rises 2% to 33%
51% Say Labor's Response Is 'Wrong'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating for his national administration showed an upward trend for the third consecutive week. While ‘labor union response’ was cited as a major reason for support, it is also analyzed that the reduction in political disputes partly influenced this trend.

According to Gallup's regular public opinion survey conducted from the 6th to the 8th (a telephone interview survey of 1,000 adults aged 18 and over nationwide), President Yoon's approval rating rose 2 percentage points from last week's survey to 33%. This marks a three-week consecutive increase following 30% in the fourth week of November and 31% in the first week of December.

This approval rating matches that of the third week of September, conducted right after Chuseok. Since then, President Yoon's approval rating had been fluctuating between 24% and 31% in a downward trend.

Behind the rise in approval ratings is the analysis that the principled response, such as issuing work commencement orders during the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union strike, had an impact. In fact, among those who expressed support for President Yoon, the response to labor unions was cited as the biggest reason. Labor union response, which appeared as a reason for support for the first time last week, recorded the highest 24% among reasons for supporting the president. This is 16% higher than last week. Following this were fairness, justice, and principles (12%), and decisiveness, drive, and perseverance (5%).

The most common reasons for not supporting were ‘arbitrary and unilateral’ at 9%, followed by lack of communication (9%), diplomacy (8%), and neglect of economy and livelihood (8%).

Gallup analyzed, "It is difficult to consider the labor union response as the sole factor for the rebound in presidential job evaluation, and it is presumed to be the result of a decrease in political disputes related to a series of vulgar language scandals over the past three months, the handling of the October 29 disaster, and media conflicts involving MBC." In fact, regarding the response to the labor strike, 31% said ‘doing well’ and 51% said ‘doing poorly’.

Regarding the Cargo Truckers Solidarity Union strike, 21% of the public opinion believed the strike should continue until demands are met, while 71% believed negotiations should begin after returning to work first.

For detailed survey outlines and results related to the public opinion survey, please refer to the website of the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.