[Anchor]
A new public opinion poll shows that President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating has climbed back into the 40% range for the first time in seven weeks. Public opinion on the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae was shown to be sharply divided.
Reporter Park Ye-rin reports.
[Reporter]
According to a survey conducted by polling agency Gallup Korea on 1,001 adults nationwide over three days from October 20, 40% of respondents said President Lee Jae-myung was performing his presidential duties well, while 50% said he was performing poorly.
Positive assessments rose by 1 percentage point compared to Gallup's poll last week, reaching the 40% range for the first time in seven weeks since the survey in the first week of September.
Diplomacy was the most cited reason for positive evaluations at 21%, followed by the economy and public livelihoods at 14%, and communication at 7%.
As for negative assessments, real estate policy accounted for 18%, the economy and public livelihoods for 16%, and defense, national security, and North Korea policy for 10%. Gallup analyzed that mentions of the economy increased among both positive and negative evaluations compared to last week.
When asked, "Do you support or oppose the impeachment of Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, which has been raised in some political circles?", 34% were in favor and 39% were opposed, keeping the difference within the margin of error, while 28% withheld their opinions by answering "don't know" or refusing to respond.
By political party support, 61% of Democratic Party supporters favored impeachment, while 71% of People Power Party supporters opposed it.
Among progressives, 66% supported impeachment, while 61% of conservatives were opposed. Among moderates, support and opposition were evenly split at 34% each.
In a February 2023 Gallup survey regarding former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, whose impeachment motion was passed over the response to the Itaewon disaster, 82% of Democratic Party supporters, 72% of progressives, and 51% of moderates favored impeachment at the time. Compared to that survey, Gallup analyzed that the consensus regarding Chief Justice Cho's impeachment within and outside the supporting base is narrower than it was then.
(Camera: Jung Sang-bo and Yoon Hyeong | Video Editing: Nam Il | Graphics: Jaegal Chan and Lee Jun-ho)
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