Ruling Party's Unity Drive Faces Uphill Battle Amid Reversal of Party-Presidential Approval Ratings
As approval ratings diverge between President Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party, observations on the 27th suggested that Chairman Kim Min-seok's all-out unification drive is failing to gain traction. In a survey released by Realmeter on the 21st, President Lee's approval rating rose 1 percentage point from the previous week to 34.8%, while the Democratic Party's support climbed 4.1 percentage points to 40.2% — a trend of reversal that has continued since last month. In a Gallup Korea poll released on the 18th (based on 1,002 voters surveyed from the 15th to 17th), the president's positive rating fell 1 percentage point to 37%, while the Democratic Party's support rose 2 percentage points to 40%, confirming a 'decoupling' phenomenon in which the president's numbers fall while the party's rise. A KBS survey conducted by Embrain Public and released on the 24th also showed the president's positive assessment of his governance at 42%, versus 51% negative.
Reasons cited for the president's negative ratings included his real estate policy, cabinet appointments, and the introduction of single-stock leveraged ETFs. This policy backlash is pointed to as the primary cause of the reversal in party-versus-presidential approval. In the KBS survey, 69% of respondents nationwide said the government's real estate policy was 'ineffective,' while 22% said it was 'effective.' Shin Yul, a professor of political science and diplomacy at Myongji University, diagnosed: "The president took the full brunt of the policy backlash at the front, and his approval rating fell. You could say the mainstream wing of the ruling camp is being pushed back by the newer forces in the fight between the old and new mainstream factions."
Alongside the fragmentation of his support base, criticism of the government is mounting. Amid the ideological conflict between the core traditional support base and the new support forces dubbed 'New Lee Jae-myung,' the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, which aligns broadly with the ruling camp, recorded 5.2% in the Realmeter survey released on the 21st, rising for five consecutive weeks. Cho Kuk, head of the party's Innovation Research Institute, styling himself as a 'red team,' has continued to make pointed remarks. Hardliners within the party, including Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae and Rep. Kim Yong-min, have voiced open opposition to the president's nomination of Kim Ji-yong as chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.
President Lee has repeatedly signaled internal unity in recent days, and Chairman Kim has borrowed former Rep. Chung Chung-rae's 'Four-P' formula of integration to launch his unity drive — efforts seen as part of the same calculus. Observers say the leadership of Chairman Kim, classified as a member of the 'pro-Lee Jae-myung' faction, is now being put to the test. Commenting on the president's recent press conference, Lee Jae-mook, a professor of political science and diplomacy at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said, "I suspect he emphasized internal unity even more in order to stem the decline in his approval rating." The reversal in party-versus-presidential approval and the growing centrifugal forces within the ruling camp are expected to determine the success of Chairman Kim's unity and alliance drive.
