Lee Jae-myung approval dips to 37.4% as Democratic lead widens in South Korea

A poll released on the 5th found that President Lee Jae-myung’s job approval fell again after three weeks to 37.4%. The president’s approval rebounded for the first time in 10 weeks in the third week of September and then rose for two straight weeks by 1.0 and 3.1 percentage points (p) before dropping again this time.

In a survey conducted by Realmeter of 2,515 voters nationwide age 18 and older from the 28th of last month to the 2nd of this month (the first week of October) at the request of Energy Economy News, the president’s positive job rating was tallied as down 0.5 percentage points from the previous week.

The negative rating was 59.8%, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous week. “Don’t know” was 2.8%.

Realmeter analyzed, “There were positive factors such as the announcement of livelihoods and welfare policies using 63 trillion won in excess tax revenues,” but added, “As personnel, security, and livelihoods negatives had a bigger impact—such as the creation of the Office of Prosecution and the Serious Crimes Investigation Office and the controversy over appointing Kim Ji-yong as head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Office, a land mine explosion in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and diplomatic friction with Ukraine, and instability in jeonse and monthly rents in the greater Seoul area—public trust in state affairs appears to have dipped slightly.”

In a party approval survey (conducted on the 1st and 2nd of this month among 1,009 voters nationwide age 18 and older), the Democratic Party of Korea recorded 42.5%, and the People Power Party recorded 38.4%.

The Democratic Party rose 3.8 percentage points from the previous survey, while the People Power Party fell 1.0 percentage points. The Rebuilding Korea Party recorded 5.2%, up 1.2 percentage points from the previous week. The Reform Party was 1.5%, and The Progressive Party was 1.3%. Other parties were 1.6%, and the unaffiliated were found at 9.5%.

The margin of error for the president’s job approval survey was ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 3.9%. The margin of error for the party approval survey was ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 3.0%. Both surveys were conducted using a 100% wireless automated response method. For details, refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.