Democratic Party Approval Rating Drops Over 3%p... Impact of Lime and Optimus Scandals [Realmeter]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] A public opinion poll revealed that the support rate for the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) dropped by more than 3 percentage points in a week, narrowing the gap with the People Power Party (PPP) to within the margin of error.

According to Realmeter's survey commissioned by YTN conducted from the 12th to the 16th, the DPK's support rate fell by 3.4 percentage points from the previous week to 32.2%, announced on the 19th. Meanwhile, the PPP's support rose by 0.7 percentage points to 29.6%.

As a result, the gap between the two parties' support rates narrowed to 2.6 percentage points, falling back within the margin of error (±2.0 percentage points) for the first time in two weeks.

The decline in DPK support was particularly notable in the Chungcheong region (down 13.4 percentage points), Daegu-Gyeongbuk (down 7.5 percentage points), among people in their 20s (down 10.5 percentage points) and 40s (down 8.7 percentage points), and among progressives (down 10.5 percentage points).

Realmeter analyzed that suspicions related to the Lime and Optimus fund scandals influenced the drop in DPK support.

Support rates for parties other than the two major ones were as follows: Open Democratic Party 8.9%, People’s Party 5.9%, Justice Party 5.7%, Basic Income Party 1.3%, and Transition Korea 1.0%.

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating for his administration rose by 1.0 percentage point from the previous week to 45.8%. Negative evaluations decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 50.0%.

The survey contacted 57,547 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final 2,523 respondents completing the survey, resulting in a response rate of 4.4%. The sampling error is ±2.0 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.