[PollPollNews] President Lee's Approval Rating Rebounds to Mid-50% After Gyeongju APEC Summit

Realmeter Poll Shows 3.7 Percentage Point Increase from Last Week
Positive Assessment of APEC and Customs Negotiation Outcomes
Support in Busan and South Gyeongsang Surges by 13.5 Percentage Points

President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating for his administration has improved following diplomatic events such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Gyeongju and the Korea-U.S. and Korea-China customs negotiations. According to Realmeter, which releases regular weekly opinion polls, his approval rating has rebounded to the mid-50% range for the first time in two months since early September.

On November 10, polling agency Realmeter released the results of a survey (conducted at the request of Energy Economy News from November 3 to 7, targeting 2,528 people aged 18 and older nationwide via wireless automated phone response, with a margin of error of ±1.9 percentage points at a 95% confidence level and a response rate of 5.1%). According to the poll, the positive assessment of President Lee's administration rose by 3.7 percentage points from the previous week to 56.7%. This marks the second consecutive week of rising approval ratings for President Lee. The negative assessment fell by 4.6 percentage points to 38.7%.

By region and demographic group, support in the Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang areas increased by 13.5 percentage points, rising from 41.3% to 54.8%. Among those aged 70 and above, support climbed by 11.5 percentage points, from 42.0% to 53.5%. Support among moderates also rose by 5.1 percentage points, from 54.7% to 59.8%.

President Lee Jae-myung visited the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) facility, the world's first superconducting fusion research device, at the Korea Fusion Energy Research Institute in Daejeon Daedeok Research Complex on the 7th. 2025.11.7 [Provided by the Office of the President] Yonhap News Agency

Realmeter stated, "At the start of the week, approval ratings increased due to expectations regarding the outcomes of the APEC Summit, the KOSPI surpassing the 4,200 mark, and the budget proposal speech, which all contributed to diplomatic and economic optimism. However, in the middle of the week, the sharp drop in the KOSPI and the rise in the exchange rate led to instability in the financial markets, halting the upward trend. In addition, the withdrawal of President Lee's law to suspend trials and the opposition party's demand to resume his trial became political burdens, resulting in a downward trend toward the end of the week."

In fact, President Lee's daily approval rating was 58.5% in the early part of the week (November 4), but fell to 55.0% by the end of the week (November 7).

In the party support poll (conducted at the request of Energy Economy News from November 6 to 7, targeting 1,004 people aged 18 and older nationwide via wireless automated phone response, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level and a response rate of 4.2%), the Democratic Party of Korea's support rose by 1.1 percentage points to 46.5%. Support for the People Power Party fell by 3.1 percentage points to 34.8%. The Reform New Party recorded 4.2%, and the Cho Kuk Innovation Party stood at 2.5%.

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

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.