Public Sentiment Revealed After Gangseo District Office By-election: "Ruling Party Support Rate at Lowest Since Current Government Inauguration"

President Yoon's Approval Rating Drops 3.7%p to 34.0%
Democratic Party Support at 50.7%, People Power Party at 32.0%

Support ratings for the government and the ruling party showed a significant decline following the Seoul Gangseo District Mayor election and others. The Democratic Party of Korea's approval rating continued its upward trend for the fifth consecutive week, reaching the highest level since the current administration began.

According to a regular public opinion poll released on the 16th by Realmeter (conducted via ARS automated response method from the 10th to the 13th over four days, targeting 2,004 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, commissioned by Energy Economy Newspaper), President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating dropped by 3.7 percentage points from the previous week to 34.0%. The disapproval rating rose by 2.4 percentage points to 62.2%.

By region, notable declines were observed in Seoul (down 7.4 percentage points, from 42.1% to 34.7%), Gwangju and Jeolla (down 4.7 percentage points, from 19.8% to 15.1%), and Incheon and Gyeonggi (down 4.6 percentage points, from 35.6% to 31.0%).

This is the first time in 22 weeks since the second week of May last year that President Yoon's approval rating has fallen below the 35% mark. Bae Cheol-ho, Senior Specialist at Realmeter, stated, "A weekly drop of 3.7 percentage points is the largest decline since a 4.0 percentage point drop in the second week of March." He added, "The start of the National Assembly audit, which can be called the 'opposition party's time' and the 'ruling party's grave,' along with the results of the Gangseo District Mayor election and subsequent responses, appear to have directly influenced the president's evaluation significantly." He emphasized, "Ultimately, the scope and speed of changes and reforms by the presidential office and the ruling party will determine whether there is a rebound. The extent to which they can deliver an exclamation point to not only their support base but also the public will determine, in the short term, a rebound and, in the long term, the recovery to the 40% range, which is the key to winning the general election." Particularly, daily approval rating analysis shows a downward trend accelerating from early to late in the week.

The People Power Party also could not avoid a simultaneous decline in support ratings.

The party support rating for the People Power Party fell by 4.3 percentage points from the previous survey to 32.0%. In contrast, the Democratic Party's support rose by 2.9 percentage points to 50.7%. The People Power Party's rating hit its lowest point since the Yoon Suk-yeol administration began, while the Democratic Party's rating reached its highest. Notably, this is the first time in three and a half years that the Democratic Party has surpassed the 50% mark in a Realmeter regular poll.

The Democratic Party's support showed significant increases in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (up 7.4 percentage points, from 38.9% to 46.3%) and Seoul (up 6.1 percentage points, from 42.6% to 48.7%). Conversely, the People Power Party experienced large drops in Seoul (down 10.2 percentage points, from 41.5% to 31.3%) and Incheon and Gyeonggi (down 4.7 percentage points, from 34.0% to 29.3%).

For more details, please refer to the website of the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

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