'O Geodon·Yang Jeongsuk' Consecutive Setbacks... President Moon and Ruling Party Approval Ratings Decline

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] A poll revealed that the approval ratings of President Moon Jae-in and the ruling party have significantly declined due to a series of setbacks, including former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don's sexual misconduct scandal and Yang Jeong-sook, the proportional representative elected member of the Together Citizens' Party, being involved in real estate speculation controversies.

According to Realmeter, which conducted the poll commissioned by tbs from the 27th to the 29th, the positive evaluation of President Moon's administration dropped by 3.1 percentage points from the previous week's aggregate to 60.6%, announced on the 30th. Negative evaluations rose by 3.0 percentage points to 35.4%.

By region, positive ratings decreased in Gwangju and Jeolla (81.3%→72.7%), Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (60.9%→54.0%), Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong (65.0%→60.5%), and Seoul (63.1%→59.2%), while they increased in Daegu and Gyeongbuk (7.7%→51.3%).

By age group, ratings fell among those in their 50s (67.1%→60.4%), 40s (73.5%→67.5%), and 60s and above (59.2%→53.6%), but slightly rose among those in their 20s (54.1%→58.8%).

Realmeter analyzed, "The PK (Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam) region and women led the overall decline," adding, "The scandal involving former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don's 'sexual harassment' and the controversy over insufficient verification of Yang Jeong-sook, the proportional representative elected member, influenced the results."

The ruling party's decline was also prominent in party support ratings. The Democratic Party of Korea dropped sharply by 7.4 percentage points from the previous week to 45.2%. This is also attributed to the controversies surrounding former Mayor Oh and elected member Yang.

The United Future Party recorded 28.0%, down 0.2 percentage points. The Justice Party fell by 0.2 percentage points to 5.0%. Other parties were surveyed as follows: Open Democratic Party at 4.6%, People's Party at 4.2%, and Minsheng Party at 2.2%.

This survey contacted 36,778 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final 1,509 respondents completing the survey, resulting in a 4.1% response rate. The sampling error is ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

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