'Yoon Approval Rating' Rises for 2nd Week to 34.3%... Conservative Unity Strengthens the More They Are Attacked

Arrest Warrant Execution Fails, Leading to Greater Unity
Yoon "Will Fight to the End" Attempts to Rally Conservatives

President Yoon Seok-yeol's approval rating, which plummeted immediately after the 12·3 emergency martial law incident, has recently shown signs of recovery. The failure to execute the arrest warrant issued by the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Agency (PCC) against President Yoon appears to have further consolidated the conservative base.

Supporters of President Yoon opposing the execution of the arrest warrant. Photo by Yonhap News

According to a survey conducted on the 3rd by the polling agency ‘Yeoronjo Sagongjeong’ targeting 1,020 men and women nationwide aged 18 and older, 34.3% responded that they support President Yoon. Meanwhile, 64.4% said they do not support him. The approval rating of 34.3% represents an increase of nearly 4 percentage points compared to last week's survey. The previous week's figure of 30.4% had already risen sharply by 12.9 percentage points from the survey before that.

In particular, 81.3% of supporters of the ruling party, the People Power Party, were found to support President Yoon, indicating that the consolidation of the conservative support base played the biggest role in the rise in approval ratings.

On the other hand, the percentage of respondents who said they do not support President Yoon dropped by nearly 12 percentage points at that time and fell again by nearly 4 percentage points in this survey.

This is analyzed as a result of the support base consolidating due to the controversy over the issuance of the arrest warrant by judicial authorities against President Yoon, coupled with President Yoon expressing his determination to “fight to the end,” which strengthened conservative unity. On New Year's Day, President Yoon attempted to rally his supporters through a handwritten signed message. He stated, “The Republic of Korea is in danger due to the agitation of forces infringing on sovereignty both inside and outside the country and anti-state forces,” and “I will fight to the end to protect this country together with you.” When the presidential message was released three days after his Facebook post on the 29th of last month saying, “I will stand with the people,” great cheers erupted at the supporters' rally held in front of the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, to prevent the execution of the arrest warrant.

There is also an interpretation that growing anti-Lee Jae-myung sentiment and resentment toward the Democratic Party due to the party's 'serial impeachment' attempts are contributing factors.