President Lee Jae-myung's state approval rating fell for the fifth consecutive week, dropping to its lowest level since taking office, according to a poll released on Monday.
In a survey conducted by Realmeter commissioned by Energy Economy News from August 10 to 14 among 2,511 adults aged 18 and older nationwide, 43.0% of respondents gave a positive evaluation of President Lee's performance, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous week.
Negative evaluations rose 1.1 percentage points from the previous week to 54.1%, remaining higher than positive evaluations outside the margin of error (±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level) for the third consecutive week.
Those who answered "don't know" accounted for 2.9%.
By region, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province saw the largest drop, falling 2.6 percentage points to 41.5%.
Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongsangnam-do recorded 36.3%, and Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheongnam-do recorded 41.3%, falling 2.4 percentage points and 1.9 percentage points, respectively.
On the other hand, Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do rose 6.6 percentage points to 36.4%.
Jeollanam-do, Gwangju, and Jeollabuk-do also rose 2.8 percentage points, showing an approval rating of 73.5%.
By age group, people in their 60s saw a 6.1 percentage point drop to an approval rating of 43.1%.
Those in their 30s (30.3%) and 40s (47.5%) also fell 2.9 percentage points and 1.5 percentage points, respectively.
Those in their 70s were surveyed with an approval rating of 48.7%, up 5.3 percentage points.
People in their 20s also rebounded by 3.1 percentage points to 31.0%.
By ideological orientation, progressive voters recorded an approval rating of 59.1%, down 4.6 percentage points.
Moderate voters (43.4%) also dropped 1.9 percentage points, while conservative voters rose 4.8 percentage points to 22.4%.
Realmeter analyzed that "confusions surrounding the real estate tax system revision plan and the backlash from young people over youth housing remarks triggered a cumulative decline in policy trust, which led to the drop in positive evaluations."
In a party approval rating survey conducted from August 13 to 14 among 1,004 adults aged 18 and older nationwide, the Democratic Party of Korea recorded 47.9% and the People Power Party 33.1%.
The Democratic Party rose 3.3 percentage points from the previous survey, while the People Power Party fell 4.5 percentage points.
Except for a 10.8 percentage point drop in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongsangnam-do (33.4%), the Democratic Party showed an upward trend in approval ratings across most regions.
It rose 15.8 percentage points in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do to record an approval rating of 43.1%, and rose 12.1 percentage points in Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheongnam-do to show an approval rating of over 53.3%.
It rose 7.4 percentage points and 4.3 percentage points in Jeollanam-do, Gwangju, and Jeollabuk-do (76.9%) and Seoul (41.8%), respectively.
On the other hand, the People Power Party suffered the largest drop in its traditional stronghold of Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do, plunging 20.3 percentage points to an approval rating of 38.9%.
Incheon and Gyeonggi Province also fell 6.1 percentage points to 31.0%, and Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheongnam-do dropped 2.7 percentage points to 31.4%.
Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongsangnam-do (40.9%) also declined by 1.8 percentage points.
Realmeter explained that "for the Democratic Party, the convention effect became full-fledged as the national convention approached, and the solidarity of party members and supporters was strengthened, leading the upward trend."
Regarding the People Power Party, it explained that "even though it launched a critical offensive against the government's confusion over the real estate tax system revision plan, it failed to lead to a clear ripple effect, and rather its support base shrank due to intensifying internal conflicts, simultaneously weakening support from conservative voters and regional bases."
The Rebuilding Korea Party stood at 2.5% and the New Reform Party at 2.2%.
The Progressive Party was 1.9%, other parties 2.3%, and respondents with no political affiliation 10.1%.
Both surveys were conducted via wireless automated response methods.
The survey on the president's state administration support had a sampling error of ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level and a response rate of 4.0%.
The party approval rating survey had a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level and a response rate of 3.5%.
Detailed information can be found on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
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