A poll found the gap in party approval ratings between the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party has flipped. The People Power Party posted a record high under the Lee Jae-myung administration and led the Democratic Party outside the margin of error.
According to the results of a survey conducted by Realmeter on commission from Energy Economy News on the 11th–12th, the Democratic Party's support was 38.0% and the People Power Party's was 44.3%. The Democratic Party fell 3.8 percentage points from the previous week, while the People Power Party rose 3.2 percentage points. The Rebuilding Korea Party and the Reform Party recorded 3.7% and 2.8%, respectively.
The People Power Party's approval rose for a third straight week to a record high under the current administration, while the Democratic Party fell for a third straight week, dropping into the 30% range for the first time in 10 months since the second week of Aug. last year (39.9%). The gap between the two parties was 6.3 percentage points, with the People Power Party ahead outside the margin of error.
Realmeter said, "The People Power Party led the National Election Commission fact-finding inquiry and the introduction of a special counsel bill, and absorbed support by rising among progressives (6.8 percentage points), moderates (5.8 percentage points) and people in their 20s (9.3 percentage points)."
By contrast, analyzing the reasons for the Democratic Party's decline, Realmeter said, "Amid blame over the June 3 local elections and clashes over the poor election management controversy, disputes over leader Jung Chung-rae's leadership and calls for resignation intensified factional conflict, leading to declines among key bases such as Gyeonggi–Incheon (7.2 percentage points) and Honam (6.1 percentage points)."
The survey was conducted nationwide with 1,002 respondents aged 18 or older using automated telephone interviews on mobile phones. The response rate was 3.8%, and the margin of sampling error was ±3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. For details, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.