President Moon's Negative Rating Nears 60%... Highest Since Inauguration [Realmeter]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] A public opinion poll revealed that the negative evaluation of President Moon Jae-in's administration has reached its highest level since his inauguration.

Realmeter announced on the 28th that, based on a survey conducted from the 21st to the 24th commissioned by 'YTN,' the positive evaluation of President Moon's administration dropped by 2.8 percentage points from the previous week to 36.7%. This matches the lowest level recorded in the second week of December (36.7%) since the current government took office.

The negative evaluation rose by 2.0 percentage points to 59.7%, marking a new high since the administration began. The gap between positive and negative evaluations stands at 23.0 percentage points, which is outside the margin of error (±2.2 percentage points).

Looking at President Moon's traditional support base, the Democratic Party of Korea's support dropped by 4.3 percentage points, those in their 40s by 3.3 percentage points, and women by 4.0 percentage points. Support also declined by 0.4 percentage points in Gwangju and Jeolla regions. However, support among Justice Party supporters increased by 2.3 percentage points.

Realmeter analyzed that the series of setbacks faced by the ruling party, including controversies over COVID-19 vaccine delays, the assault incident involving Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu and a taxi driver, past remarks of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister nominee Byeon Chang-heum, the controversy over Moon Joon-yong's art support funds, and the first trial verdict of Professor Jeong Gyeong-shim, likely influenced the results of this survey.

Regarding party support, the People Power Party rose by 2.2 percentage points from the previous week to 33.8%, while the Democratic Party fell by 1.3 percentage points to 29.3%. The gap between the two parties was 4.5 percentage points, which is outside the margin of error. This is the largest gap since the founding of the People Power Party.

Other parties were surveyed as follows: Open Democratic Party at 6.5%, People’s Party at 6.4%, and Justice Party at 4.4%.

The survey contacted 43,292 voters aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final response of 2,008 people, resulting in a response rate of 4.6%. The sampling error is ±2.2 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.