President Moon's Approval Rating at 55%... "Handled 'COVID-19' Well"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for his national administration reached 55%. Notably, it rose by 6 percentage points compared to the previous week. This is interpreted as a result of the government's response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The polling firm Gallup Korea reported that from the 24th to the 26th, out of 1,001 adults nationwide surveyed on whether they think President Moon is performing his duties well, 55% responded positively. This figure is 6 percentage points higher than last week's 49%.

The approval and disapproval rates by age group are as follows: ▲18-29 years old 49% to 41%, ▲30s 64% to 31%, ▲40s 72% to 27%, ▲50s 53% to 42%, ▲60 and older 45% to 48%.

The top reason for positive evaluation was 'COVID-19 response' (56%). This was followed by 'doing one's best/working hard' (6%) and 'generally doing well' (5%). COVID-19 related responses have ranked first as the reason for positive evaluations for eight consecutive weeks. The proportion has gradually increased over the past month. The percentage of respondents citing COVID-19 response as the reason for positive evaluation was 30% in the fourth week of February, 37% in the first week of March, 44% in the second week of March, 54% in the third week of March, and 56% in the fourth week of March.

By political party support, 95% of the Democratic Party of Korea supporters positively evaluated the president's job performance, while 85% of United Future Party supporters were negative. Among the non-affiliated group with no party support, positive responses were 40% and negative 47%, narrowing the gap compared to last week (positive 32%, negative 49%).

The reasons for negative evaluation included 'insufficient COVID-19 response' (27%), 'lack of solutions to economic and livelihood issues' (24%), and 'generally inadequate' (12%). COVID-19 related responses have been the top reason for negative evaluations for five consecutive weeks, but their proportion has recently decreased. The percentage citing COVID-19 as the reason for negative evaluation was 50% in the first week of March, 37% in the second week, 30% in the third week, and 27% in the fourth week. Meanwhile, mentions of economic issues increased over the same period from 8%, 15%, 23%, to 24%.

A Gallup official said, "(The rise in approval rating) cannot be attributed to any factor other than the COVID-19 response," adding, "As the overseas situation changes, there seems to be a perception that our country is responding relatively well."

He also noted, "What is noteworthy is that other indicators such as party support rates have not changed, but only the president's positive evaluation has risen significantly," adding, "This level of increase usually happens when the president goes on foreign visits or during major events like inter-Korean talks. It seems the public perceives the current situation in that way."

Since President Moon's inauguration, the highest approval rating was 84% in the first week of June 2017, and the lowest was 39% in the third week of October 2019.

Regarding party support rates, the Democratic Party of Korea ranked first with 37%, down 1 percentage point from last week's 38%. The United Future Party recorded 22%, down 1 percentage point from last week's 23%. The Justice Party followed with 5%, up 1 percentage point from the previous week’s 4%. Next were the People's Party at 4%, the Open Democratic Party at 2%, and the Liberty Republican Party (→ Our Republican Party) at 1%. The non-affiliated group accounted for 27%.

Among progressives, 67% support the Democratic Party of Korea, while 48% of conservatives support the United Future Party. Among moderates, party support is as follows: Democratic Party of Korea 34%, United Future Party 18%, People's Party 7%, Justice Party 5%, Open Democratic Party 3%, and 30% reported no party support.

This survey was conducted via telephone interviewer interviews, with a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points (95% confidence level) and a response rate of 14%. Detailed information can be found on the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.