President Moon's Approval Rating Surpasses 60%... Ruling Party Also Rises to 50% Range [Realmeter]

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for his administration soared to the mid-60% range, marking the highest level in 1 year and 7 months. The ruling party, the Democratic Party of Korea, also showed a sharp rise, surpassing 50% for the first time in 22 months. This is analyzed as a bandwagon effect following the general election victory.

According to Realmeter, which conducted a public opinion survey commissioned by tbs from the 20th to the 22nd, the positive evaluation of President Moon's administration rose by 6.0 percentage points compared to the previous week's weekly aggregate, reaching 64.3%, announced on the 23rd. On the other hand, the negative evaluation dropped by 5.6 percentage points to 32.0%.

In particular, the positive rating entered the 60% range for the first time since the third week of October 2018 (60.4%). It is the highest figure since the fourth week of September 2018 (65.3%). The gap between positive and negative evaluations was 32.3 percentage points, showing a difference of over 30 percentage points for the first time since the second week of October 2018 (positive 61.9%, negative 31.4%).

The overall approval rating increase was led by an 8 to 15.5 percentage point rise among those in their 50s and 60s and older, centrists, and housewives. Looking at daily figures, it closed at 61.0% (negative evaluation 35.4%) on the 17th, rose to 63.2% (negative evaluation 33.3%) on the 20th, and further increased to 65.2% (negative evaluation 31.7%) on the 21st. On the 22nd, it slightly dropped to close at 64.2% (negative evaluation 32.0%).

This high approval rating trend is attributed to favorable evaluations of the government's response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and the bandwagon effect following the ruling party's overwhelming general election victory.

The Democratic Party also saw a significant rise in support. The party recorded 52.1%, up 5.3 percentage points from the previous week, successfully entering the 50% range for the first time in 22 months. Meanwhile, the United Future Party recorded 27.9%, down 0.5 percentage points, showing a slight decline and falling below the 30% mark for four consecutive weeks.

The Justice Party recorded 4.9%, and the Open Democratic Party, surveyed for the first time this week, showed 3.3%. The People's Party was at 2.8%, and the Minsheng Party recorded 1.3%.

This survey contacted 32,749 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final response of 1,509 people, recording a response rate of 4.6%. The sampling error is ±2.5 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.