President Moon's Approval Rating Surpasses 70%... Highest in 1 Year and 10 Months [Gallup]

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] A public opinion poll revealed that President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for his national administration has surpassed 70%. This is the highest level in 1 year and 10 months and is overwhelmingly higher compared to the approval ratings of past presidents in their fourth year in office.

Korea Gallup announced on the 8th that, based on a survey conducted from the 6th to 7th targeting 1,004 adults aged 18 and over, 71% of respondents gave a positive evaluation of President Moon's job performance. This figure rose by 7 percentage points compared to the previous week. Conversely, negative evaluations dropped by 5 percentage points to 21%.

This is the first time in 1 year and 10 months since the first week of July 2018 that President Moon's job approval rating has exceeded 70%.

Compared to other past presidents, this is the highest approval rating among presidents in their third year (fourth year) in office. The positive job performance ratings of past presidents in their third year were as follows: President Roh Tae-woo 12% (January 1991), President Kim Young-sam 41% (February 1996), President Kim Dae-jung 27% (April 2001), President Roh Moo-hyun 27% (March 2006), President Lee Myung-bak 43% (February 2011), and President Park Geun-hye 42% (February 2016).

President Moon's approval and disapproval rates by age group are 66% and 21% for ages 18?29, 77% and 17% for those in their 30s, 85% and 12% for those in their 40s, 68% and 25% for those in their 50s, and 64% and 26% for those aged 60 and above. By political orientation, 91% of progressives and 69% of moderates positively evaluated the president's job performance, while conservatives showed nearly even approval and disapproval rates at 46% and 44%, respectively.

When asked the reasons for their positive evaluation (710 respondents), the top responses were 'Response to COVID-19' (53%), 'Overall good performance' (6%), 'Doing their best / working hard' and 'Expansion of welfare' (both 4%), followed by 'Honesty / frankness / transparency' and 'Considering the people's position' (both 3%). COVID-19 related responses have ranked first as the reason for positive evaluation for 13 consecutive weeks.

Among negative evaluators (207 respondents), the main criticisms were 'Lack of solutions to economic and livelihood issues' (22%), 'Focus on North Korea relations / pro-North Korea tendencies' (11%), 'Overall inadequacy' (9%), 'Inadequate COVID-19 response' (8%), 'Autocratic / unilateral / biased' (5%), 'Waste of national treasury / finances' (4%), and 'Job issues / lack of employment' (3%). Economic and livelihood issues have ranked first as the reason for negative evaluation for five consecutive weeks.

Party support rates were as follows: the Democratic Party of Korea 46%, the United Future Party 17%, the Justice Party 7%, the Open Democratic Party 4%, and the People's Party 3%. Compared to the previous week, support for the Democratic Party increased by 3 percentage points, while the United Future Party and the People's Party each decreased by 2 percentage points. Support for the Justice Party and the Open Democratic Party remained unchanged.

This survey contacted 7,147 adult men and women nationwide aged 18 and over, with a final 1,004 respondents completing the survey, resulting in a 14% response rate. The sampling error is ±3.1 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.