Battle over Fukushima Contaminated Water, Public Opinion Trends of Ruling and Opposition Parties?..."Democratic Party Support Slightly Declines"

People Power Party 33%, Democratic Party 32%
President Yoon's Approval Rating Rises 2%p to 38%

As the ruling and opposition parties engage in a public opinion battle over Japan's Fukushima contaminated water discharge, the support rate for the Democratic Party of Korea showed a slight decline. Meanwhile, the support rate for the People Power Party remained the same as last week, and President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating increased.

According to Gallup's regular survey conducted from the 4th to the 6th (a telephone interview survey of 1,000 adults aged 18 and over nationwide), the support rates were 33% for the People Power Party, 32% for the Democratic Party, 4% for the Justice Party, and 30% for no preferred party. While the People Power Party's support rate remained unchanged from last week, the Democratic Party's support rate dropped by 2 percentage points, drawing attention.

Despite the sharp confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties over the Fukushima contaminated water discharge issue and the ensuing public opinion battle, the overall public sentiment appears largely unchanged. Earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that Japan's plan to discharge contaminated water posed no problems.

Regarding next year's general election, 38% of respondents believe the ruling party should win a majority, while 50% think the opposition party should secure a majority. This sentiment shows little change compared to the previous survey (regular survey announced on the 1st of last month). In that survey, 37% supported a ruling party majority, and 49% supported an opposition party majority.

President Yoon's approval rating rose by 2 percentage points from last week to 38%. Negative evaluations of his administration decreased by 2 percentage points to 54%.

Among those who expressed support for the administration (375 respondents, open-ended responses), 'diplomacy' (20%) was cited as the main reason. Conversely, those who gave negative evaluations (541 respondents, open-ended responses) pointed to the 'Fukushima contaminated water discharge issue' (17%) and 'diplomacy' (13%) as reasons.

Gallup commented on President Yoon's approval rating, stating, "Since last month, the approval rating has remained in the mid-30% range, and the disapproval rate has stayed in the mid-to-high 50% range, with only slight changes in the reasons for each evaluation. This suggests that there has been no issue influential enough to cause a significant change in the overall attitude toward the president."

For detailed survey methodology and results related to this poll, please refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.