President Lee Jae-myung's state-affairs approval rating fell for the sixth consecutive week, hitting a record low since taking office, according to a poll released today (the 24th).

According to a Realmeter survey commissioned by Energy Economy News, conducted from the 18th to the 21st among 2,026 voters aged 18 and older nationwide, positive evaluations of President Lee's governance stood at 40.2%, down 2.8 percentage points from the previous week.

Negative evaluations rose 2.8 percentage points from the previous survey to 56.9%, remaining higher than positive evaluations outside the margin of error (±2.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level) for the fourth straight week.

Respondents who answered "don't know" accounted for 3.0%.

Realmeter analyzed, "Distrust in real estate policies grew due to controversies over housing supply in Yongsan Park, and this was compounded by ruling and opposition conflicts surrounding Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's written submission and constitutional amendment pushes, as well as security concerns following the reduction of South Korea-U.S. joint military drills, leading to an expanded defection of conservative voters and elderly citizens aged 70 and older."

In a party support rate survey conducted on the 20th and 21st among 1,009 voters aged 18 and older nationwide, the Democratic Party recorded 41.9% and the People Power Party recorded 37.6%.

The Democratic Party dropped 6.0 percentage points from the previous survey, while the People Power Party rose 4.5 percentage points.

Realmeter analyzed regarding the Democratic Party that "the convention effect following the end of the national convention has faded," and "approval ratings fell as real estate policy conflicts overlapped with exposed internal party strife surrounding Supreme Council member selections appointed by the Kim Min-seok leadership."

Regarding the People Power Party, the agency explained that it "intensively highlighted controversies over the ruling bloc's management of the real estate situation and security concerns stemming from reduced South Korea-U.S. joint exercises, thereby consolidating the conservative base and absorbing defectors from the Democratic Party to expand support among people in their 30s and 70s and older, as well as in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province."

Support for the Rebuilding Korea Party was measured at 3.9%, and the Reform Party at 2.0%.

The Progressive Party stood at 2.3%, other parties at 2.5%, and undecided voters at 9.7%.

Both surveys were conducted via wireless automated response systems.

The presidential approval rating survey had a sampling error of ±2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level and a response rate of 3.2%.

The party support rate survey had a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level and a response rate of 2.9%.

For further details, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

(Photo: Yonhap News)