Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has dropped below the 60 percent threshold for the first time in two months, a survey revealed on Monday. This decline is partly attributed to increasing concerns over the cost of living impacting citizens.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the survey conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by the EKN newspaper involved 2,006 respondents aged 18 and above. It showed that the positive assessment of President Lee's performance decreased by 2.7 percentage points, landing at 59.5 percent. Meanwhile, negative evaluations increased by 1.6 percentage points, reaching 35 percent, with 5.5 percent of respondents expressing uncertainty.
President Lee's approval rating had consistently remained above 60 percent for seven weeks since early March before the recent decline. Realmeter identified a significant drop in support among centrist voters and economically vulnerable groups, who are particularly affected by rising oil and consumer prices.
The pollster also linked the dip in approval ratings to the recent controversy involving Unification Minister Chung Dong-young. The minister referenced North Korea's Kusong region as a site for uranium enrichment facilities, which, according to reports, the U.S. considered an unauthorized disclosure of shared intelligence.
The survey's margin of error is 2 percent, with a 95 percent confidence level. In a separate poll conducted by Realmeter on 1,006 individuals aged 18 and over, the ruling Democratic Party's approval rating fell by 2.7 percentage points to 48.6 percent. Conversely, the main opposition People Power Party saw its approval rating increase by 0.9 percentage point to 31.6 percent. This poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent.