President Lee's Approval Rating Rebounds After Three Weeks of Decline [Polpol News]

President Lee Jaemyung's approval rating for his administration has stopped declining after three weeks and has slightly rebounded.

According to a public opinion poll released on the 25th by polling agency Realmeter (conducted at the request of Energy Economy News from August 18 to 22 among 2,512 voters aged 18 and older nationwide, using a 100% wireless automated response method, with a margin of error of ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and a response rate of 4.8%), President Lee's approval rating for his administration recorded 51.4%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous week. The disapproval rating stood at 44.9%, up 0.4 percentage points.

By region, the increase was most notable in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam, where the approval rating rose by 5.1 percentage points (from 45.6% to 50.7%). In contrast, the approval rating in Daegu and Gyeongbuk fell by 7.2 percentage points (from 42.3% to 35.1%). By age group, support among those in their 20s increased by 7.8 percentage points (from 34.4% to 42.2%).

President Jae Myung Lee and his wife Hye Kyung Kim, having concluded the summit, are boarding Air Force One at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on the 24th, greeting as they head to Washington DC for the Korea-US summit with President Donald Trump. Photo by Yonhap News

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Realmeter analyzed, "This week's approval rating remained flat as positive and negative factors offset each other," adding, "Positive factors included diplomatic and security activities such as preparations for visits to the US and Japan and the announcement of restoring military agreements, as well as economic policy announcements such as increasing the R&D budget. On the other hand, negative factors appeared to be political strife related to the special prosecutor, backlash after the Liberation Day special pardons, uncertainty over tax reform, and a series of industrial accident incidents."

In the party support poll (conducted at the request of Energy Economy News from August 21 to 22 among 1,004 voters aged 18 and older nationwide, using a 100% wireless automated response method, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and a response rate of 4.8%), support for the Democratic Party of Korea rose by 5.9 percentage points from the previous week to 45.8%. The People Power Party recorded 35.5%, down 1.2 percentage points. The Reform New Party stood at 3.4%, and the Cho Kuk Innovation Party at 3.2%.

For more detailed information regarding the public opinion polls, please refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

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