[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung's state approval rating has fallen for the sixth consecutive week, dropping to 40.2 percent. This marks the lowest level since taking office, with analysts citing distrust in real estate policies and the scaled-down South Korea-U.S. joint military drills as the main factors.

Reporter Park Chan-beom has the details.

[Reporter]

According to a survey conducted by Realmeter on 2,026 adults nationwide over four days starting from the 18th, when asked about President Lee Jae-myung's performance in state affairs, 40.2 percent responded positively while 56.9 percent responded negatively.

Based solely on Realmeter surveys, the positive evaluation has declined for six consecutive weeks, marking the lowest approval rating for President Lee since taking office.

Comparing the approval ratings by age group to the previous week's survey, respondents aged 70 and older saw the sharpest drop, falling by 8.2 percentage points.

Support also fell by 4.7 percentage points among those in their 50s and 4.4 percentage points among those in their 30s.

The drop was under 3 percentage points for those aged 20 and younger and those in their 40s, while support among those in their 60s rose by 3.2 percentage points.

By region, compared to the previous week, the Honam region experienced a sharp decline of 8.8 percentage points.

Realmeter attributed the drop in approval ratings to distrust in real estate policies sparked by the controversy over youth housing supply in Yongsan Park, alongside security concerns stemming from the downscaled South Korea-U.S. joint exercises.

Realmeter also conducted a party support rate survey of 1,009 adults nationwide over two days starting from the 20th, which showed the Democratic Party at 41.9 percent and the People Power Party at 37.6 percent.

The Democratic Party fell by 6 percentage points compared to the previous survey, while the People Power Party rose by 4.5 percentage points.

Analysts suggest that the so-called convention effect following the Democratic Party's national convention, which concluded on the 17th, failed to produce a positive impact on the party's approval ratings.

By age group, the Democratic Party's support rate was relatively high in the 50 percent range among those in their 40s and 50s, while the People Power Party's support rate was relatively high in the 40 percent range among those aged 20 and younger, those in their 30s, and those 70 and older.

(Video reporting: Lee Seung-hwan, Shin Dong-hwan | Video editing: Lee Seung-jin, Design: Kang Yoon-jung, Kim Han-gil)