[Polpol News] President Lee's Approval Rating Dips Slightly to 54.5% After Four Weeks of Gains

Realmeter Poll
Political Turmoil Over Three Major Special Prosecutor Bills Impacts Approval Rating

President Lee Jaemyung's approval rating for his handling of state affairs has declined slightly. The upward trend seen over the past four weeks has come to a halt, which is believed to be influenced by political turmoil that arose during the process of handling the three major special prosecutor bills.

According to a public opinion poll released on the 15th by Realmeter (commissioned by Energy Economy News and conducted via wireless phone ARS from September 8 to 12 among 2,515 people aged 18 and older nationwide, with a response rate of 5.1%), President Lee's approval rating (positive evaluation) was found to be 54.5%, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous week. The negative evaluation rose by 1.9 percentage points to 41.1%.

It is notable that approval ratings dropped by 5.0 percentage points in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, and by 4.4 percentage points in Daejeon, Sejong, and the Chungcheong region.

Yonhap News Agency

Realmeter explained, "President Lee's announcement to maintain the current criteria for major shareholders subject to stock transfer taxes raised investor expectations and helped the KOSPI index reach an all-time high, positively impacting his approval rating. However, later in the week, as political turmoil intensified due to the passage of the arrest motion for People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Seongdong and the breakdown of bipartisan negotiations on the three major special prosecutor bills, the approval rating was negatively affected and ultimately ended the week on a downward trend."

In the party support survey (commissioned by Energy Economy News and conducted via wireless phone ARS from September 11 to 12 among 1,001 people aged 18 and older nationwide, with a response rate of 4.2%), the Democratic Party of Korea's support fell by 0.3 percentage points to 44.3%. Support for the People Power Party rose by 0.2 percentage points to 36.4%. The Reform Party recorded 4.4%, the Cho Kuk Innovation Party 2.6%, and the Progressive Party 1.5%.

For more detailed information regarding the public opinion polls, please refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.