Between "Not Getting Carried Away," Yoon's Approval Rating Nears 20%... Criticism of Moon Doesn't Help, Must Present a 'Vision'

Only Two Months in Office, Mentioning 'Impeachment' Is Too Much... Government and Ruling Party Show Regret and Frustration
Yoon Geon-yeong: "'Responses Claiming No Issues in Personnel or Livelihood' Seem Unaware Why Approval Ratings Drop and Criticism Arises"

If Approval Rating Falls Below 30%, Remaining 70% Will Keep Pointing Out Problems
Governance Further Shrinks Following the 'Spiral of Silence' Theory
Presenting a Future Vision Rather Than Criticizing Previous Administration Is Key to Overcoming Current Situation

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] "Whether the approval rating rises or falls, I always think it means to work hard for the people, and I am working with my eyes only on the people. I want to emphasize once again that we will work hard without being swayed by the approval rating."

Regarding President Yoon Seok-yeol's approval rating falling to the low 30% range, a presidential office official said to reporters on the 15th, "We work solely with the thought of how to make this situation better and how to govern the country more properly by focusing only on the people, not to raise the approval rating or anything like that."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The ruling party, which is also experiencing a simultaneous decline in approval ratings, gave a similar response.

According to the regular public opinion poll released by Gallup the day before (conducted from the 19th to the 21st, targeting 1,000 people aged 18 and over, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level), the People Power Party's approval rating dropped 6 percentage points from 45% in the first week of June to 39% in the third week of July. This means the overwhelming support received around the June local elections has rapidly cooled off since the election. (During the same period, the Democratic Party's rating was 32%→33%)

In a survey conducted by Media Tomato commissioned by News Tomato (from the 19th to the 20th, targeting 1,022 people aged 18 and over, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level), the approval rating dropped by 13.0 percentage points from 45.4% in the fourth week of June to 32.4% in the fourth week of July. (The Democratic Party's rating rose from 40.2% to 49.5%)

Regarding this, Kwon Seong-dong, acting leader of the People Power Party and floor leader, said to reporters after the floor countermeasure meeting the day before, "As the leader of the ruling party, I am deeply aware of the trend in the approval rating for the government and our party," but added, "However, we will not be swayed by the approval rating."

Photo by Gallup

Photo by Media Tomato & News Tomato

Both the government and the ruling party's response of 'not being swayed by the approval rating fluctuations' can be interpreted as a commitment to push forward policies without retreat, so as not to lose momentum in the early stages of governance, rather than being influenced by each poll result.

There is also a sense of regret that criticism of the new government, which has only been in office for about 70 days, is harsh.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

"You know well what the cause is. If the cause were well known, any government would have solved it well."

On the 19th, President Yoon said this in a brief press conference at the Yongsan office when asked about the cause of the approval rating decline. Compared to his previous answer that "I did not pay much attention to the approval rating even during the election campaign," this shows some change, but it also reveals frustration that there is no proper response to stop the decline. Earlier, the Media Tomato survey showed the Yoon administration's approval rating barely hanging on at 30.4%, and the Gallup survey recorded 32%, the same as the previous week.

As President Yoon's approval rating continues to decline this month, with concerns that even the 30% range is at risk, the government and ruling party, unable to find a 'sharp solution,' are only responding sharply to opposition party attacks.

In particular, as the Democratic Party mentioned 'impeachment' against the Yoon administration, the People Power Party raised their voices, saying, "It is too much to talk about impeachment of a government that has only been launched for two months." Floor leader Kwon criticized, "The Moon Jae-in administration passed the bill of policy failures over five years to the people and ignored it, blaming only the current government. This is shameless," and countered, "The Moon administration was intoxicated with a 40% approval rating at the end of its term and ignored the cold public sentiment."

Kwon Seong-dong, Acting Leader of the People Power Party, is giving an opening remark at the party meeting held at the National Assembly on the 20th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

However, some argue that while it is necessary to be cautious about being intoxicated with high approval ratings as Kwon said, it is also required to examine why the approval rating is low if it is low.

Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Geon-young pointed out on YTN Radio on the 21st regarding the presidential office personnel controversy, "Because personnel appointments were made based on acquaintances and relationships, problems arose, leading to public criticism and a drop in approval ratings."

He said, "I hope the president changes a bit. He should cleverly listen to the current personnel and livelihood failures and change, but it seems he is not doing so," and directly criticized, "Judging from the president's attitude so far, he does not even apologize to the people, but rather acts as if 'there is no problem at all, personnel is fine, and livelihood is fine.' It seems he does not know why the approval rating is falling and why he is being criticized."

Public opinion poll expert Bae Jong-chan, CEO of Insight K, mentioned the Noelle-Neumann 'Spiral of Silence' theory, which states that people tend to remain silent when they realize their opinion is a minority, and analyzed, "If the 30% of supporters of President Yoon cannot raise their voices loudly, governance will inevitably become more constrained."

He appeared on MBC Radio on the 19th and said, "If the approval rating falls below 30%, the remaining 70% will continue to point out problems," adding, "Then the voices of about 3 out of 10 people supporting the president almost disappear."

Bae advised, "If the core of the approval rating decline lies in the president's style and attitude, it is necessary to move toward the economy and the future (by suggesting direction) rather than criticizing the Moon administration."

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