Democratic Party Approval Rating Falls Below 30% Amid Confirmation Hearings [Gallup]

Gap Between Two Major Parties Narrows to 1 Percentage Point
Democratic Party 28%, People Power Party 27%

During Confirmation Hearings, 'Morality' 47% vs 'Policy Capability' 47%...Tie
7 out of 10 Say "Both Morality and Policy Capability Should Be Publicly Verified"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Following the ten-day confirmation hearings for the five ministers, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, on the 4th, and the Prime Minister nominee on the 6th, the support rate for the Democratic Party of Korea has fallen below the 30% range.

On the 14th, Gallup Korea conducted a survey from May 11 to 13 targeting 1,000 adults nationwide aged 18 and over. The results showed that support for the Democratic Party of Korea was 28%, a 2 percentage point drop from the previous survey in the first week of May (30%), breaking below the 30% range. The People Power Party's support also fell by 1 percentage point during the same period to 27%. The gap between the two parties narrowed to 1 percentage point again after four weeks.

According to Gallup, from November 2016, around the time the political scandal intensified, until February this year, weekly surveys showed that the Democratic Party of Korea's support was mostly more than 10 percentage points ahead of the People Power Party (including its predecessors Saenuri Party, Liberty Korea Party, and United Future Party).

The gap between the two parties' support rates was in single digits only twice: in the third week of October 2019, with a 9 percentage point gap (Democratic Party 36%, then Liberty Korea Party 27%), and in the second week of August 2020, with a 6 percentage point gap (Democratic Party 33%, then United Future Party 27%).

However, since the beginning of this year, starting from the first week of March (Democratic Party 32%, People Power Party 24%) and from the fourth week of March (32%, 29%), the gap between the two parties has consistently remained within 5 percentage points.

Over the past ten days, the National Assembly has held confirmation hearings for five ministerial nominees and Prime Minister nominee Kim Boo-kyum. The ruling and opposition parties were in a tense standoff over the Prime Minister nominee's appointment consent bill until the day before, which was ultimately pushed through solely by the Democratic Party without the participation of People Power Party members. President Moon Jae-in approved Kim Boo-kyum's appointment on the morning of the same day.

Gallup's survey on the suitability of Prime Minister Kim showed that 38% of voters responded that he was "suitable," 26% said "not suitable," and 36% withheld their opinion.

Respondents viewed 'morality' and 'policy capability' as equally important when prioritizing candidate evaluation during confirmation hearings. Both 'morality is important' and 'policy capability is important' responses were tied at 47%, showing a close contest.

By age group, over 60% of respondents in their 20s and 30s prioritized policy capability, while 56% of those aged 50 and above emphasized morality, showing a clear difference. In their 40s, morality (46%) and capability (50%) were similarly rated.

A survey conducted last November also showed similar levels of importance for morality (49%) and policy capability (45%). However, in the early days of the Park Geun-hye administration, responses prioritizing morality verification were about 20 percentage points higher than those prioritizing capability.

Regarding the method of confirmation hearings, 76% responded that both morality and policy capability should be publicly verified. The proportion who answered that only capability verification should be public was 19%.

This survey was conducted from May 11 to 13, targeting 1,000 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, with a response rate of 14%. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, please refer to the Gallup Korea website or the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.

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