A poll released on the 14th found that President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating hit a low since taking office, and the "negative evaluation" of his job performance surpassed the "positive evaluation" in figures for the first time.
In a survey conducted by Gallup Korea of 1,000 voters age 18 and older nationwide in the second week of Aug. 2026 (the 11th–13th), the positive evaluation of President Lee's job performance was 44% and the negative evaluation was 46%.
The job approval rate fell 7 percentage points from three weeks earlier (the fourth week of July), marking a low since taking office. Over the same period, the disapproval rate rose 8 percentage points, surpassing the approval rate for the first time.
By age, it was highest in the mid-to-high 50% range among those in their 40s and 50s, and lowest among those in their 20s, with an approval rate of 30%.
Among moderates, positives were 43% and negatives were 45%, a close split.
The first reversal between positive and negative job evaluations for former President Yoon Suk-yeol came around two months after taking office, in the first week of July 2022. Before that, Moon Jae-in reached it in the third week of December 2018 (about one year and seven months), and Park Geun-hye in the third week of June 2014 (about one year and four months).
President Lee's approval soared in the 60% range for the first year after taking office, then fell to 57% after the June 3 local election defeat. It continued to decline as public opinion among those in their 20s and 30s worsened amid a weak stock market and a loss of public support in real estate.
In this survey, when those who positively evaluated the president's job performance were asked for their reasons (a weighted applicable sample of 438, open-ended), the results were "diplomacy" (19%), "economy and livelihoods" (15%), "doing well overall" (8%), "communication" (7%), "drive, execution, and speed" (5%), "works hard and makes efforts," and "real estate policy" (4% each), in that order.
Among those with negative evaluations (459, open-ended), respondents cited "real estate policy" (30%), "economy and livelihoods" (13%), "doing poorly overall" (7%), "reduction of prosecutors' powers," "dictatorship and dogmatism" (5% each), and "ethical issues and evasion of own trial," "defense and security" (4% each), among other reasons.
In party support, the Democratic Party of Korea was 41%, People Power Party 25%, Reform Party 3%, Rebuilding Korea Party 2%, The Progressive Party and other parties/organizations 1% each, and those with no party preference were 28%.
This survey has a 95% confidence level with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points. For details, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.