[AKYUNG Poll] President Moon's Approval Rating Barely Holds at 40%... Democratic Party Support Also Declines

40s Concrete Supporters Change Loyalty
Democratic Party Approval Drops, People Power Party Leads for the First Time

[Asia Economy Reporters Oh Ju-yeon and Park Jun-i] President Moon Jae-in and the ruling party's approval ratings are showing a simultaneous downward trend. President Moon's positive evaluation of his state affairs management was 46.7% in the fourth week of July according to our survey, marking a peak in the past three months, but it has declined for three consecutive surveys, recording 40.4% this time. This is interpreted as being influenced by recent controversies over the distribution of the national support fund (the 5th disaster relief fund) and the event effects related to the commencement of the People Power Party's primary cut-off. It is also notable that the approval rating rise among the 40s age group, known as the Moon administration's 'concrete support base,' has stalled. The Democratic Party's approval rating also declined simultaneously, allowing the People Power Party to overtake them for the first time this year.

On the 14th, Asia Economy commissioned Win-G Korea Consulting to conduct a public opinion survey targeting 1,022 voters aged 18 and over nationwide from the 11th to 12th, using 100% mobile phone virtual numbers and automated response. When asked about 'President Moon's state affairs management evaluation,' the positive rating was 40.4%, down 3.9 percentage points from the previous survey conducted in the third week of August (August 21-22). During the same period, the negative rating rose 1.4 percentage points from 54.2% to 55.6%.

While approval ratings declined in all regions, Gwangju and Jeolla (62.4%) maintained strong support. By age group, the largest drops were among those in their 30s and 40s. The 30s (41.9%) and 40s (55.7%) fell by 6.4 and 7.1 percentage points respectively compared to the previous survey. Win-G Korea Consulting, which conducted the survey, analyzed that "the controversy over disaster relief fund distribution and the accumulated dissatisfaction of small business owners expressing fatigue with social distancing measures seem to have influenced the results." They also noted that the active responses from People Power Party supporters, who have entered the full-scale party primary process, were a factor in the approval rating decline.

The Democratic Party's approval rating was lower than that of the People Power Party for the first time this year in our survey. The Democratic Party's approval rating was 31.6%, while the People Power Party's was 34.7%. The Democratic Party fell by 2.4 percentage points from the previous survey, and the People Power Party rose by 0.9 percentage points. The gap was 3.1 percentage points, within the margin of error.

This survey was conducted by Asia Economy commissioning Win-G Korea Consulting targeting voters aged 18 and over nationwide from the 11th to 12th, with 1,022 respondents and an overall response rate of 7.4%. The survey method was wireless ARS using 100% mobile phone virtual numbers, and the sample was extracted with weighting by gender, age, and region based on the resident registration population as of the end of January 2021 from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (cell weighting). The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For detailed survey information, please refer to the Win-G Korea Consulting website or the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.

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