Unexpected 'Apple Abundance', Over Half of the Nation Says "Not Enough"... Yoon's Approval Rating Drops by 5%p [Realmeter]

Two Candidates Apologize Side by Side for Family Controversies
Over Half of the Public Rates Both Apologies as "Insufficient"... Yoon 59.2% · Lee 53.6% Negative Responses
Candidate Yoon's Approval Rating Also Affected

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Amid recent apologies from Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, and Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, regarding 'family issues,' more than half of the public believe that the apologies from both candidates were insufficient. In particular, Yoon's apology was judged more harshly.

On the 22nd, a survey conducted by Realmeter commissioned by YTN (targeting 1,027 men and women aged 18 and over from December 20 to 21, with a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level) showed that 53.6% responded that Lee's apology regarding the controversy over his children was 'not sufficient.' The opinion that it was 'sufficient' was only 38.4%, and 8.0% answered 'don't know.'

When asked the same question about Yoon's spouse-related controversy, the proportion of respondents who said 'Yoon's apology was not sufficient' was even higher than for Lee. The percentage who felt Yoon's spouse controversy apology was insufficient was 59.2%, close to 6 out of 10 people. Meanwhile, those who thought it was 'sufficient' accounted for 32.8%, and 'don't know' was 7.9%.

However, the possibility of changing support for a candidate due to family controversies appears to be low.

When asked whether the recent controversies regarding Lee's children and Yoon's spouse might lead to a change in their supported candidate, 70.7%, or 7 out of 10 people, answered 'I will not change.' Those who responded 'I might change' were 16.1%, and those who said 'I have changed' were 8.9%. 'Don't know' accounted for 4.3%.

Nonetheless, it seems to have influenced the current trend in support rates.

In the presidential candidate support rate survey released that day, Yoon's support rate was 40.1%, down 5.2 percentage points from the previous survey (December 6-7), while Lee's support rate was 37.0%, down 0.1 percentage points. During this period, Yoon's support rate decline was larger than Lee's, narrowing the gap from 8.2 percentage points to 3.1 percentage points, showing a close race within the margin of error.

A Realmeter official pointed out, "In this survey, the 'family risks' of the two candidates emerged." He added, "Incidents and accidents can happen, but the behavior and attitude during the process of managing them can become problematic." He explained, "In Yoon's case, the false credentials of his spouse damaged his core brand value of 'fairness,' but his attitude in apologizing was also evaluated as inadequate. In this survey, 6 out of 10 people said the apology was insufficient, and these factors seem to have ultimately reflected in the support rates."

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