"Presidential Approval Rating Seems to Have Dropped One Step...It Will Take Time to Rebound"

"Must Appeal to Conservative Base to Boost Approval Ratings"

President Yoon Suk-yeol. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Regarding the announcement by Korea Gallup on the 18th that President Yoon Seok-yeol's approval rating stands at 22%, Yoon Hee-ung, head of the Opinion Live Public Opinion Analysis Center, said, "Looking at the trend, it seems to have dropped one step," adding, "Even if visible measures from the government come out, it will take more time for the approval rating to rebound significantly."

On the 21st, on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' Director Yoon said, "We cannot definitively say that the recent controversy involving Mr. Myeong Tae-gyun is the core issue; overall, the matters are bundled together." He continued, "The positive evaluation from the support base (stronghold) should be high, but looking at the survey results, it is difficult to say where the support base is (by age group or region)."

According to the survey conducted by Korea Gallup from the 15th to the 17th among 1,001 voters nationwide aged 18 and over (with a 95% confidence level and a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points), the positive evaluation rate of President Yoon's job performance was 22%, down 1 percentage point (p) from the previous survey (September 24?26). Looking at the results from July and August released by Korea Gallup, the approval rating (positive evaluation) was in the high 20% range, but it dropped to 20% right after Chuseok.

The negative evaluation rose by 1 percentage point from the previous survey to 69%. The reasons for negative evaluation were ranked as follows: 'Economy/Livelihood/Prices' (15%), 'Issues related to First Lady Kim Geon-hee' (14%), 'Lack of communication' (8%), and 'Generally doing poorly' (7%). In the previous survey, the proportion citing issues related to First Lady Kim Geon-hee as a reason for negative evaluation was 6%, but this time it rose sharply.

Director Yoon said that going forward, North Korea-related issues are likely to be one of the major variables when evaluating President Yoon's state affairs performance. He explained, "The country is actually in a somewhat crisis or chaotic situation," adding, "When there is an external threat, people say, 'Shouldn't we rally behind the leadership?' Currently, if President Yoon is to raise his approval rating, it primarily needs to rise among the ruling party supporters and conservative-leaning groups." He further added, "If relations with North Korea escalate into a more crisis-like situation, that could positively influence the president's state affairs evaluation to some extent, so it will be necessary to observe how things unfold."

Since the ruling party's evaluation is also part of the presidential evaluation, showing unity within the ruling party would be a positive indicator. He predicted, "The presidential office cannot afford further deterioration, so even within the ruling party, efforts will be made to find a compromise on parts that are not harmonized." Regarding opinions that President Yoon's approval rating could fall to the 10% range, he said, "Presidential evaluations are flexible, so both rises and falls are possible," emphasizing, "To increase approval ratings, it will be necessary to appeal to the conservative base."