President Yoon's Approval Rating Rises for 4 Consecutive Weeks... Recovers to Mid-30% Range After 5 Months

Korea Gallup Survey... Approval Rating Rises 3%p to 36%
Q3 Job Performance Evaluation (Oct-Dec Average) Recorded at 30%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating for his national administration has shown an upward trend for four consecutive weeks, recovering to the mid-30% range for the first time in five months. This rise in approval is interpreted as being driven by the consolidation of President Yoon's support base, including conservative-leaning groups.

According to Gallup's regular survey conducted from the 13th to the 15th (a telephone interview survey of 1,001 adults aged 18 and over nationwide), President Yoon's approval rating rose by 3 percentage points from the previous week's survey to 36%. In the third week of November, his approval rating was 29%, which then increased to 30% in the fourth week of November, 31% in the first week of December, and 33% in the second week of December, continuing the upward trend.

This is the first time in about five months that President Yoon has recorded an approval rating in the mid-30% range in Gallup's regular surveys. Negative evaluations fell by 3 percentage points to 56%. Since recording 37% in the first week of July, President Yoon's approval rating had dropped to as low as 24% once each in August and September. It remained around an average of 29% in October and November as well.

Those who responded that President Yoon is currently "doing well" were mainly from the People Power Party supporters (78%) and those aged 70 and above (61%), while those who said he is "doing poorly" were mostly from the Democratic Party supporters (89%) and people in their 30s and 40s (72%). Compared to last week's survey, approval among respondents in their 60s increased by 5 percentage points from 51% to 56%, People Power Party supporters rose from 73% to 78%, and conservative-leaning supporters increased from 60% to 66%.

Those who positively evaluated President Yoon's job performance cited "handling of labor unions" (20%), "fairness, justice, and principles" (16%), "overall good performance" (10%), "decisiveness, drive, and perseverance" (7%), and "subjectivity and conviction" (6%) in that order. Those who evaluated him negatively pointed to "arbitrary and one-sided" (12%), "overall poor performance" (11%), "neglect of economic livelihood" (10%), "lack of communication" (8%), and "lack of experience and incompetence" (7%).

Gallup analyzed this by stating, "Recently, President Yoon has taken a tough stance against labor unions and officially announced the abolition of Moon Jae-in Care and the 52-hour workweek, setting himself in opposition to the opposition party (or the previous administration). This aggressive policy stance appears as a pursuit of principles to those who positively evaluate the president's job performance, while it seems arbitrary to those who evaluate him negatively."

Meanwhile, in the third quarter job performance evaluation of his first year in office, President Yoon's approval rating was 30% (average from October to December). This is lower than former President Moon Jae-in (73%) and former President Park Geun-hye (60%), but higher than former President Lee Myung-bak (24%) and former President Roh Moo-hyun (29%).

For detailed survey methodology and results related to the poll, please refer to the website of the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

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