Negative assessment of president's performance crosses majority at 52%, up from 51%; positive at 39%

Negative assessments of the president's job performance rose to 52%, crossing the majority threshold.

In a survey conducted by Gallup Korea from October 13 to 15, 2026, involving telephone interviews (CATI) with 1,003 men and women nationwide, 39% of respondents said the president is doing a good job, while 52% said the president is doing a poor job. Nine percent declined to give an opinion.

Presidential Job Performance Ratings

The positive rating of 39% is up 2 percentage points from 37% in the October 8 survey. The negative rating of 52% rose 1 percentage point from 51% in the same survey. Refusals to answer fell 3 percentage points, from 12% to 9%.

Compared with the September 17 survey, the positive rating rose 2 percentage points from 37% to 39%. The negative rating fell 4 percentage points from 56% to 52%. Refusals to answer rose 2 percentage points from 7% to 9%.

Party Support

Support for the Democratic Party of Korea stood at 36%. The People Power Party registered 27%, while independents with no party affiliation accounted for 29%. The gap between the two parties was 9 percentage points, exceeding the sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points.

Compared with the October 8 survey, the Democratic Party of Korea rose 1 percentage point from 35% to 36%, and the People Power Party rose 1 percentage point from 26% to 27%. Independents fell 2 percentage points from 31% to 29%.

Compared with the September 17 survey, the Democratic Party of Korea dropped 4 percentage points from 40% to 36%. The People Power Party was unchanged at 27%. Independents rose 4 percentage points from 25% to 29%.

Key Changes

Negative assessments of the president's job performance fell 4 percentage points compared with the September 17 survey, while support for the Democratic Party of Korea fell 4 percentage points over the same period. Independents rose 4 percentage points over the same period.

Survey Overview

Commissioner: Gallup Korea
Surveyor: Gallup Korea
Survey period: October 13 – October 15, 2026
Respondents: 1,003 men and women aged 18 and older nationwide
Method: Telephone interview by survey agents (CATI)
Response rate: 10.4%
Margin of error: ±3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level
Weighting: Applied based on the number of reference cases, according to regional/gender/age proportions of the resident registration population from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety as of the end of June 2026

For more details, please refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website (nesdc.go.kr).