Seoul:President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating experienced a slight decline last week following a period of increase over the previous two weeks.
According to Yonhap News Agency, a poll conducted by Realmeter surveyed 2,515 adults nationwide from last Monday to Friday. The results indicated that positive assessments of President Lee's job performance stood at 37.4 percent, reflecting a decrease of 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous week. Negative evaluations also saw a decrease, dropping 0.3 percentage points to 59.8 percent, with 2.8 percent of respondents expressing uncertainty.
The rise in Lee's approval rating over the prior two weeks was attributed to his clarification of significant political issues during a press conference on September 18. Despite the positive influence of announcing livelihood and welfare policies funded by excess tax revenue, negative factors seemed to have a more substantial impact on the ratings.
These negative factors included controversies surrounding the creation of new investigative bodies, such as the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (SCIA) and the Prosecution Service, along with the appointment of the SCIA chief. Furthermore, recent incidents such as a land mine explosion within the Demilitarized Zone, diplomatic tensions with Ukraine, and concerns over rising housing rental prices in the Seoul metropolitan area were noted as influential.
In a separate poll of 1,009 voters nationwide, support for the ruling Democratic Party increased to 42.5 percent, a rise of 3.8 percentage points from the previous survey. Meanwhile, support for the main opposition People Power Party decreased by 1 percentage point, standing at 38.4 percent.
The presidential survey had a margin of error of 2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, while the political party survey carried a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points at the same confidence level. Both surveys were commissioned by the EKN newspaper.