South Jeolla Governor Kim Yung-rok ranked first in a job performance evaluation of metropolitan and provincial chiefs nationwide conducted by polling agency Realmeter. North Gyeongsang Governor Lee Cheol-woo, who ranked first in the previous month's evaluation, placed second with 56.8%.
According to the "Dec. 2025 evaluation of metropolitan and provincial governments" released by Realmeter on the 14th, Governor Kim Yung-rok's positive job performance response rate was 58.9%, up 4 percentage points (p) from the previous month. The positive job performance response rate refers to the share of residents who say the local government chief is doing a good job running provincial affairs. It is effectively interpreted as an indicator of support for provincial governance.
North Gyeongsang Governor Lee Cheol-woo's positive evaluation of governance rose 1.7 percentage points to 56.8%, but the ranking fell by one spot,
Ulsan Mayor Kim Doo-kyum ranked third with 56.3%, up 2.3 percentage points from the previous month. Fourth place went to North Jeolla Governor Kim Kwan-young, who posted 51.2%, down 1.1 percentage points from the previous month.
Fifth place was Gangwon Governor Kim Jin-tae with a 50.8% response rate, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous month. Governor Kim Jin-tae's provincial support has risen for five consecutive months.
In the party index relative indicator, which compares job performance evaluations with regional party support, Mayor Kim Doo-kyum ranked first with 129.6 points.
If this indicator's comparative index exceeds 100, it means there are more supporters than the party's support base in the region; if it falls short of 100, it means there are fewer supporters.
Second was Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo (123.6 points), third was South Chungcheong Governor Kim Tae-heum (115.2 points), and fourth was Governor Kim Jin-tae (113.1 points). Fifth was South Gyeongsang Governor Park Wan-su, and sixth was Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok.
All of them are metropolitan and provincial chiefs from the People Power Party. This suggests that while the People Power Party's approval rating is low, the chiefs' support is relatively high.
This Realmeter survey used an automated response method with random digit dialing (RDD) to landlines and mobile phones, and was conducted Nov. 28–30 and Dec. 29–31, 2025. It surveyed 13,600 voters aged 18 and older nationwide (800 per city/province). The margin of error by metropolitan and provincial unit is ±3.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate is 3.2%.