President Yoon's Approval Rating at 36%... Both Positive and Negative Views Focus on 'Diplomacy'

Korea Gallup January 3rd Week Public Opinion Poll Results
People Power Party 37% vs Democratic Party 32%

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating for his administration slightly increased after a week.

The polling agency Gallup Korea announced on the 20th that a survey conducted from the 17th to the 19th among 1,000 men and women nationwide aged 18 and older showed that 36% gave a positive evaluation of President Yoon's job performance, while 55% gave a negative evaluation. Compared to the previous survey conducted in the second week of January (10th to 12th), the positive rating rose by 1 percentage point (p), and the negative rating fell by 2%p.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Gallup Korea explained that President Yoon's approval rating was in the 50% range shortly after his inauguration last year. It then dropped twice to 24% in early August and late September last year, but rose again in December and reached the mid-30% range after about five months.

In this survey, the response that President Yoon is "doing well" was prominent among supporters of the People Power Party (75%) and those aged 60 and older (in the 50% range). The response that he is "doing poorly" was high among supporters of the Democratic Party of Korea (90%) and those in their 40s (73%).

The reasons for positive evaluations were ranked as follows: "diplomacy" (17%), "economy and livelihood" (9%), "response to labor unions" (7%), "overall good performance," "defense and security" (both 6%), "decisiveness, drive, perseverance," and "fairness, justice, principles" (both 5%).

The reasons for negative evaluations included "diplomacy" (15%), "careless remarks" (10%), "lack of experience, qualifications, incompetence" (9%), "overall poor performance," "arbitrary and unilateral," "lack of communication" (all 7%), "neglecting economy and livelihood" (6%), and "lack of unity and cooperation" (5%).

Gallup Korea stated, "This week, 'diplomacy' ranked highest among both positive and negative evaluation reasons, revealing contrasting views on the recent visits to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Switzerland."

Party support was recorded as 37% for the People Power Party, up 4%p; 32% for the Democratic Party, down 2%p; 25% for those with no party affiliation; and 5% for the Justice Party. By age group, the People Power Party exceeded 50% among those aged 60 and older, and the Democratic Party exceeded 50% among those in their 40s. About half of those in their 20s were unaffiliated. Politically, 73% of conservatives supported the People Power Party, 65% of progressives supported the Democratic Party, and among moderates, 28% supported the People Power Party, 30% the Democratic Party, and 36% were unaffiliated.

The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1%p at a 95% confidence level. It was conducted via telephone interviews, with 95% mobile and 5% landline calls, and the response rate was 8.6%. For more details, please refer to the website of the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.