In a Realmeter poll, People Power Party support fell into the 20% range for the first time since Jang Dong-hyeok became leader in Aug. last year. In Daegu and North Gyeongsang, where nomination feuds are underway, it dropped 9.7 percentage points in just one week.
In a party support survey of 1,005 people aged 18 and older nationwide conducted by Realmeter on Apr. 19–20 at the request of Energy Economy News, the Democratic Party of Korea recorded 53.0% and the People Power Party 28.1%. The Democratic Party rose 2.5 percentage points from the previous week, while the People Power Party fell 3.8 percentage points.
In particular, the People Power Party fell into the 20% range for the first time since the fifth week of Jul. last year, when it recorded 27.2%. In Realmeter polling, it is the first time the party's support has been in the 20% range since Jang Dong-hyeok took office. The gap between the two parties widened from 18.6 percentage points last week to 24.9 percentage points.
By region, the People Power Party fell in almost all areas. In particular, it fell 9.7 percentage points in Daegu and North Gyeongsang, dropping to 53.4%. By contrast, the Democratic Party rose 8.1 percentage points in Daegu and North Gyeongsang, climbing to 33.6%.
Realmeter analyzed that the factors behind the Democratic Party's rise in support appear to be "the president's proactive livelihood measures in response to the Middle East crisis translating into support for the ruling party, and a rebound effect that strengthened the image of a stable ruling party in contrast to the People Power Party's severe nomination infighting."
Regarding the People Power Party, it interpreted, "The main reasons appear to be the defection in the Chungcheong region due to North Chungcheong Governor Kim Young-hwan's cut-off and the spread of 'prearranged nomination' talk in Daegu and North Gyeongsang, which led to a major defection of its base in its traditional stronghold of Daegu and North Gyeongsang."
In a survey of 2,513 people aged 18 and older nationwide conducted on Apr. 16–20, the positive assessment of President Lee Jae-myung's performance in office was tallied at 62.2%. That was up 1.9 percentage points from last week's survey.
Realmeter analyzed, "Proactive livelihood measures—such as forming a supplementary budget for the Middle East crisis, a cap on oil prices, and reviewing an odd-even driving scheme—appear to have been positively evaluated as crisis management capabilities."
Both surveys were conducted using wireless interactive voice response.
For the presidential job approval survey, the margin of error was ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 5.9%. For the party support survey, the response rate was 5.3% with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For details, see the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.