President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating at 37.4% after second cabinet reshuffle… negative ratings in the 59% range
President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating for his handling of state affairs registered 37.4% positive and 59.5% negative, marking another record low amid an eighth consecutive week of decline, according to a survey released on the 7th. The poll of 2,510 voters aged 18 or older nationwide, conducted from the 31st of last month through the 4th of this month by the opinion research firm Realmeter at the request of the Energy Economic Daily, found that Lee's positive rating fell 1.5 percentage points from the previous week, while his negative rating rose 0.8 percentage points. The gap between positive and negative ratings widened to 22.1 percentage points, beyond the margin of error (±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level).
The downward trend held across most regions and age groups. Positive ratings fell in Seoul (down 6.0 percentage points), Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province (down 2.9 points), and Incheon and Gyeonggi Province (down 2.3 points), rising only in Daejeon, Sejong, and the Chungcheong region (up 5.6 points). By age group, approval dropped 4.9 percentage points each among those in their 30s and 60s, and also slipped among those in their 40s (down 2.1 points) and those aged 70 and above (down 1.3 points), with only respondents in their 50s posting a rebound of 3.1 percentage points.
In party support, the two major parties remained locked in a tight race. In a survey of 1,001 respondents nationwide conducted on the 3rd and 4th, the Democratic Party of Korea recorded 41.8% and the People Power Party 37.6%, leaving the gap between the two at 4.2 percentage points—within the margin of error for the third consecutive week. Compared with the previous week, the Democratic Party fell 1.3 percentage points and the People Power Party 0.1 percentage points. They were followed by the Rebuilding Korea Party at 4.5%, the Reform Party at 2.3%, the Progressive Party at 1.3%, other parties at 2.1%, and independents at 10.5%.
