President Lee Jae-myung's job approval fell for the seventh straight week, dropping into the 30% range for the first time since taking office, a poll showed. The Democratic Party of Korea recorded 43.1%, and the People Power Party 37.7%, in party support.
According to a survey conducted on the 24th–28th of last month by pollster Realmeter at the request of Energy Economic News and released on the 31st, the positive assessment of President Lee's performance was 38.9%, down 1.3 percentage points (p) from the previous week. This is the lowest figure in this survey since Lee took office in June last year and, after seven consecutive weeks of decline, marked the first time it entered the 30% range.
The negative assessment rose 1.8%p to 58.7% from the previous week. The gap between positive and negative assessments was 19.8%p, outside the margin of error, and "don't know" was 2.5%.
By region, the positive assessment fell by 8.5%p in the Chungcheong area, 4.1%p in Honam, and 1.0%p in Daegu–North Gyeongsang.
Realmeter analyzed that "the approval rating continues to decline as public sentiment over real estate has worsened due to home prices and jeonse and monthly rent issues, coupled with the constitutional controversy over the refusal to appoint a Supreme Court justice nominee, distrust of the police sparked by the Jeju missing case, and even conflict within the ruling bloc over comments by writer Ryu Si-min."
In party support, the Democratic Party recorded 43.1% and the People Power Party 37.7%. The gap between the two parties was 5.4%p, within the margin of error.
The Democratic Party rose by 9.3%p in Gwangju–South Jeolla–North Jeolla, 4.6%p in Daegu–North Gyeongsang, 3.4%p in Seoul, and 1.2%p in Incheon–Gyeonggi. In contrast, it fell by 4.0%p in Daejeon–Sejong–Chungcheong.
The People Power Party rose by 3.7%p in Daejeon–Sejong–Chungcheong and 2.6%p in Busan–Ulsan–South Gyeongsang, but fell by 6.0%p in Daegu–North Gyeongsang and 5.5%p in Gwangju–South Jeolla–North Jeolla.
The presidential job approval survey was conducted via automated response on mobile phones among 2,509 voters aged 18 and older. The response rate was 3.9%, with a margin of error of ±2.0%p at a 95% confidence level. The party support survey covered 1,006 voters aged 18 and older; the response rate was 3.7%, with a margin of error of ±3.1%p at a 95% confidence level. Details are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.