President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating rebounded for a second straight week to the mid-to-high 30% range, according to a poll released on the 28th.
Realmeter, a polling firm, surveyed 1,508 voters aged 18 and over nationwide from the 21st to the 23rd on behalf of Energy Economy Newspaper and found that 37.9% rated Lee's performance positively. The figure was up 3.1 percentage points from the previous week, extending gains for a second week.
Disapproval fell 3.3 percentage points to 60.1%. The gap between positive and negative assessments stood at 22.2 percentage points, outside the margin of error. Those who said they were unsure accounted for 2%.
Realmeter said the president's outreach through a news conference for the public last week, along with summit diplomacy including the United Nations General Assembly and a Korea-U.S. summit, worked in his favor. "The rating also appears to have risen as voters credited his willingness to reshuffle personnel, including the voluntary withdrawal of Kim Seung-won as justice minister nominee, which had drawn controversy, and the offer to resign by Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff," the firm said.
In a separate survey of party support covering 1,005 voters aged 18 and over nationwide from the 22nd to the 23rd, the People Power Party drew 39.4% and the Democratic Party of Korea 38.7%. The People Power Party gained 0.9 percentage point from the previous week, while the Democratic Party lost 1.5 percentage points. The two parties swapped places, but the gap of 0.7 percentage point kept them in a dead heat within the margin of error.
The People Power Party rose 7.4 percentage points in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, its traditional stronghold, while the Democratic Party fell 5.8 percentage points in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province and Jeonbuk State.
Realmeter attributed the ruling party's decline to internal conflict over the nomination of a chief for the agency handling serious crimes investigations and to the fallout from Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's refusal to renominate a Supreme Court justice, saying voters under 50 and moderates had drifted away.
For the People Power Party, the firm said the gains came as the party concentrated its attacks on the government's vetting of nominees following a string of failed ministerial candidacies, while highlighting the conflict with the judiciary and the debate over constitutional revision.
Support for the Rebuilding Korea Party, which had risen for six consecutive weeks, also fell. The party drew 4%, down 1.2 percentage points from the previous week. The Reform Party had 2.9% and the Progressive Party 1.4%. Voters with no party preference accounted for 10.2%.
The survey was conducted entirely by automated response calls to mobile phones. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level for the presidential approval survey and plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level for the party support survey. Further details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
