Rebuilding Korea Party's Approval Rating Falls to 9% Range, But Hits 17.8% Among Progressive Voters
A recent opinion poll shows the approval rating of the Rebuilding Korea Party has entered the 9% range for the first time since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, while its support among progressive voters surged to 17.8%. According to a survey commissioned by News Tomato to Media Tomato and conducted on the 19th and 20th via wireless automated response (ARS) with 1,033 adults nationwide, the party's support stood at 9.0%, up 1.6 percentage points from two weeks earlier and marking its first entry into the 9% range since the Lee government took office. In the same poll, the Democratic Party of Korea fell 0.8 percentage points to 36.2%, while the People Power Party slipped 0.4 percentage points to 37.2%. Notably, support for the Rebuilding Korea Party among progressives jumped 7.0 percentage points from the previous survey to 17.8%. The response rate was 2.2%, with a margin of error of ±3.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Kim Jun-hyung, the party's floor leader who has been pressing for impeachment, met with Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do on the 21st and handed over his party's own motion to impeach Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, calling for joint action. "A parliamentary probe must not become a pretext for putting off impeachment," Kim said, urging the Democratic Party to act. Party leader Shin Jang-sik criticized at a Supreme Council meeting on the 22nd that the cynicism and ridicule over the impeachment drive stemmed "not from law or rules, but from antiquated political engineering."
The Democratic Party, for its part, is placing greater weight on verifying the facts through a parliamentary investigation rather than pursuing impeachment immediately. While the leadership maintains a cautious stance, Rep. Chung Chung-rae urged the leadership to push ahead with impeachment, saying the party "has no reason to hesitate."
The rebound comes amid talk of an existential crisis for the party. After Cho Kuk, head of the Innovation Policy Research Institute, lost the June 3 by-election in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, the party's support had plummeted to the 1–2% range, but it has recently regained visibility by seizing the reform agenda. Party spokesperson Lim Myung-hee attributed the rise to "support for a party raising its voice for clearer reform and reform of everyday livelihoods."
By contrast, Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok, who has been pushing a strategy to expand into the centrist electorate, faces a situation with no clear rebound in approval ratings and mounting concerns about defections from his existing support base.
