▲ President Lee Jae-myung speaking
President Lee Jae-myung's state approval rating has fallen for eight consecutive weeks, setting a new low since taking office, according to a poll released today (Sept. 7).
In a survey of 2,510 adults aged 18 and older nationwide conducted by Realmeter from August 31 to September 4 at the request of Energy Economy News, positive evaluations of President Lee's state administration dropped 1.5 percentage points from the previous week to 37.4%.
Negative evaluations rose 0.8 percentage points from the previous week to 59.5%, leading positive evaluations outside the margin of error for the sixth consecutive week.
Those who responded "don't know" accounted for 3.1%.
President Lee's approval rating has fallen by 11 percentage points compared to the third week of July survey (48.4%), when the downward trend began, and by 21.7 percentage points compared to the fourth week of May survey (59.1%), held before the June 3 local elections.
By region, Seoul saw a 6.0 percentage point drop to 29.0%, with positive evaluations of state affairs entering the 20% range.
Approval ratings also fell in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province (29.4%) and Incheon and Gyeonggi Province (40.7%) by 2.9 percentage points and 2.7 percentage points, respectively.
Conversely, Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong Province saw a 5.6 percentage point rise to 35.7%.
By age group, approval ratings stood in the 20% range for those aged 18–29 (28.8%) and those in their 30s (29.8%).
Among men in their 20s (21.4%) and men in their 30s (20.8%), positive evaluations of state affairs remained in the low 20s.
A downward trend was also prominent among those in their 60s (39.5%, down 4.9 percentage points), while approval ratings also declined among those in their 40s (41.5%, down 2.1 percentage points) and those aged 70 and older (37.6%, down 1.3 percentage points).
However, those in their 50s (43.9%) saw a 3.1 percentage point rebound from the previous week.
By ideological leaning, support dropped 5.5 percentage points among moderates (35.9%), while rising 4.0 percentage points among progressives (57.3%) and 1.7 percentage points among conservatives (19.2%).
By occupation, declines were recorded among those in agriculture, forestry, and fishery (37.7%, down 6.3 percentage points); the unemployed, retirees, and others (35.5%, down 3.2 percentage points); housewives (37.1%, down 2.8 percentage points); and students (23.7%, down 1.9 percentage points).
Realmeter analyzed, "Controversies surrounding personnel appointments, such as preferential treatment allegations involving cabinet nominees and allegations over the withdrawal of indictments, combined with controversies over policy U-turns regarding real estate tax revisions, spread negative public sentiment regarding personnel and policy reliability, leading to the downward trend in approval ratings."
In a party approval rating survey conducted on 1,001 adults aged 18 and older nationwide on September 3–4, the Democratic Party of Korea recorded 41.8% and the People Power Party recorded 37.6%.
The Democratic Party fell 1.3 percentage points and the People Power Party fell 0.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
The gap in support between the two parties narrowed by 1.2 percentage points from the previous week to 4.2 percentage points, remaining within the margin of error for the third consecutive week.
Support for the Democratic Party fell in Seoul (down 10.3 percentage points), Incheon and Gyeonggi Province (down 4.7 percentage points), and Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province (down 2.9 percentage points), while the People Power Party saw a drop in Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong Province (down 7.8 percentage points).
In the approval rating for those in their 30s, the Democratic Party fell 8.6 percentage points, while the People Power Party rose 4.9 percentage points.
Among those in their 20s, the Democratic Party rose 7.8 percentage points, and the People Power Party fell 6.6 percentage points.
Support for the Democratic Party declined among those aged 70 and older (down 5.1 percentage points), those in their 60s (down 4.7 percentage points), and those in their 50s (down 3.1 percentage points), while the People Power Party declined among those in their 40s (down 4.2 percentage points).
By occupation, the Democratic Party fell among sales, production, labor, and service workers (down 6.4 percentage points) and the unemployed, retirees, and others (down 5.5 percentage points), while the People Power Party fell among students (down 11.0 percentage points), agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers (down 9.9 percentage points), self-employed individuals (down 3.0 percentage points), and office, management, and professional workers (down 2.5 percentage points).
Realmeter assessed, "For the Democratic Party, controversies over the qualifications of (cabinet) nominees, nerve-wracking solidarity fights with the Rebuilding Korea Party, and internal strife surrounding leadership ethics inspections overlapped to serve as factors driving down approval ratings."
Regarding the People Power Party, it interpreted, "While it continued its offensive against government personnel and policy noises, it failed to sufficiently reap derivative benefits, hovering around levels similar to the previous week."
The Rebuilding Korea Party stood at 4.5%, the Reform Party at 2.3%, followed by the Progressive Party (1.3%).
Other parties accounted for 2.1%, and respondents with no affiliation stood at 10.5%.
Both surveys were conducted via wireless automated response methods.
The survey on the president's state administration approval rating had a sampling error of ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, with a response rate of 4.2%.
The party approval rating survey had a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, with a response rate of 3.8%.
(Refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website for further details)
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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