President Lee Jae-myung's job approval rating has fallen for nine consecutive weeks to 33.8%, according to a new opinion poll. In party support, the People Power Party overtook the ruling Democratic Party for the first time in 11 weeks.
In a survey of 2,515 voters aged 18 and older conducted nationwide from the 7th to the 11th by pollster Realmeter at the request of Energy Economy Shinmun, positive assessments of Lee's performance came to 33.8%, down 3.6 percentage points from the previous week, the pollster said on the 14th. Lee's approval rating has declined for nine straight weeks since July, setting a new post-inauguration low each week.
Negative assessments rose 3.8 percentage points to 63.3%, climbing above 60% for the first time since Lee took office. The gap between positive and negative assessments stood at 29.5 percentage points, outside the margin of error.
By region, positive assessments fell most sharply in Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province, down 9.1 percentage points from the previous week. Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province followed at minus 6.8 percentage points, along with Daejeon, Sejong and the Chungcheong region at minus 6.5 percentage points and Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces at minus 5.5 percentage points.
By age group, approval plunged 10.2 percentage points among people in their 20s. It also fell 8 percentage points among self-identified progressives.
"Despite diplomatic activity including summit talks, negative public opinion appears to have spread over policy issues such as the controversy over the cabinet reshuffle, the review of a troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz and uncertainty over housing policy," Realmeter said. "Combined with a considerable defection of progressives and voters in their 20s, this appears to have driven the approval rating down."
Party support also flipped between the ruling and opposition camps. In a separate survey of 1,003 voters aged 18 and older conducted nationwide on the 10th and 11th, the People Power Party rose 4.5 percentage points from the previous week to 42.1%. The Democratic Party fell 5.7 percentage points to 36.1%. The gap between the two parties was 6.0 percentage points. It was the first time in 11 weeks, since the fourth week of June, that the Democratic Party had trailed the People Power Party in Realmeter's party support survey.
"The People Power Party appears to have gained from public discontent over policy issues, including the controversy surrounding the government's second cabinet reshuffle, with voters in their 20s and in the Chungcheong and Busan-Gyeongnam regions rallying in large numbers to lift its support," Realmeter said.
It added: "As the ruling party, the Democratic Party faced compounding burdens from policy issues such as housing policy uncertainty and the controversy over the second cabinet reshuffle. In line with the fall in the president's approval rating, it appears to have lost substantial support among voters in their 20s and progressives."
Elsewhere, the Rebuilding Korea Party drew 4.7%, the Progressive Party 1.3% and the Reform Party 1.3%.
The survey was conducted entirely by automated response system on mobile phones. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level for the presidential job approval survey and plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the party support survey. Further details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
