In the "2026 Korea Trust Survey," conducted by Gallup Korea for the magazine SisaIn from Sept. 6 to 8 among 1,013 men and women aged 18 and older nationwide and released Wednesday, 11.4% of respondents named Han as the politician they trust most when asked in an open-ended question to identify the most trustworthy politician currently active in either the ruling or opposition camp. The largest share, 39.3%, said "none," "don't know," or declined to answer.
Lee had topped the survey every year since 2021 but lost the lead for the first time this year. Han shared the results on his Facebook page the same day, saying, "I will look only to the people and press ahead without wavering," and "I truly want to earn even greater trust from the public."
On trust in the president, 50.4% said they distrust Lee, outweighing the 35.9% who said they trust him. In last year's survey, 51.2% said they trusted him against 34.1% who did not, reversing this year's ranking.
Lee's trust rating on a scale of zero to 10 also fell. His average score was 4.19 this year, down 1.35 points from 5.54 a year earlier.
Trust in political parties shifted as well. The ruling Democratic Party scored 3.74, down 1.19 points from last year — the steepest year-on-year decline since the party trust survey began in 2012. It is the first time in five years, since 2021, that the party's rating has fallen into the 3-point range.
The People Power Party rose 0.16 point to 3.12 from 2.96 last year. But last year's 2.96 was the lowest since the party was founded in 2020, and its score this year again trailed the Democratic Party's.
The survey used a dual-frame computer-assisted telephone interview method combining random digit dialing for landlines and mobile phones. The response rate was 8.7%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
The results were weighted by gender, age and region based on the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's resident registration population as of August this year. Detailed results are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
