[Polpol News] President Lee's Approval Rating at 54.3%... Down 0.6%p from Last Week

Party Approval Ratings: Democratic Party 45.8%, People Power Party 34.6%

President Lee Jaemyung's approval rating for his handling of state affairs stood at 54.3%, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous week.

According to a survey conducted by Realmeter at the request of Energy Economy News from December 8 to 12, 2025, targeting 2,519 people aged 18 or older nationwide, 54.3% of respondents gave a positive assessment of President Lee's performance.

President Lee's approval rating had shown a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points in the previous survey, but declined again within a week.

The negative assessment also fell by 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous survey, reaching 41.5%.

Yonhap News Agency

Realmeter analyzed that the decline in approval ratings was mainly due to former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Jeon Jae-soo's alleged involvement in a bribery scandal linked to the Unification Church. However, the polling agency noted that President Lee's strong response to the Coupang incident, his directive for a thorough investigation into the Unification Church allegations, and the live broadcast of government ministry work briefings are estimated to have helped prevent a further drop in approval ratings.

In a separate party approval rating survey conducted on December 11 and 12, 2025, among 1,010 people aged 18 or older nationwide, the Democratic Party recorded 45.8% and the People Power Party 34.6%. The Democratic Party's rating rose by 1.6 percentage points from the previous week, while the People Power Party's rating declined by 2.4 percentage points.

The Cho Kuk Innovation Party and the Reform Party each recorded 3.4%, and the Progressive Party recorded 1.3%.

Both surveys were conducted using an automated wireless response system.

The margin of error for the presidential approval rating survey is ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, while the party approval rating survey has a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

The response rate for the presidential approval rating survey was 4.7%, and for the party approval rating survey, it was 3.8%. For more details, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.