President Moon's Approval Rating Hits 52.6%, Highest This Year... Sharp Rise in TK and PK Regions [Realmeter]

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for his administration's performance has surpassed the 50% mark, reaching the highest level this year. The government's response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is analyzed to have driven the rise in approval ratings, with notable increases especially in the conservative strongholds of Daegu·Gyeongbuk (TK) and Busan·Ulsan·Gyeongnam (PK).

According to a poll conducted by Realmeter on behalf of YTN from the 23rd to the 27th, the positive evaluation of President Moon's administration rose by 3.3 percentage points compared to the previous week's aggregate, reaching 52.6%, the highest this year, the agency announced on the 30th.

Conversely, the negative evaluation dropped by 3.8 percentage points to 44.1%, showing a difference outside the margin of error compared to the positive evaluation. This is the first time in 33 weeks since the first week of August last year that the positive evaluation has surpassed the negative evaluation beyond the margin of error.

Analysts suggest that the government's proactive response to COVID-19 and the Telegram 'Nth Room' incident contributed to the rise in approval ratings.

In particular, the conservative base showed a marked increase in this survey. By region, the rise was mainly seen in areas known as conservative strongholds such as Daegu·Gyeongbuk (33.3%→40.7%) and Busan·Ulsan·Gyeongnam (36.8%→43.7%), and by age group, there was a sharp increase among those in their 50s (47.3%→54.3%), who tend to have stronger conservative leanings.

By ideological orientation, the centrist group (44.7%→49.1%) and conservatives (18.5%→21.8%) showed increases, and by occupation, the unemployed (40%→47.5%), office workers (58.9%→64.3%), and labor workers (46.5%→51.8%) mainly rose. In contrast, students (52.1%→48.5%) showed a decline.

This survey contacted 44,482 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final response of 2,531 people, recording a response rate of 5.6%. The sampling error is ±1.9 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.

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