President Lee's Approval Rating Rises to 60%—Up 1 Percentage Point; Democratic Party at 43%, People Power Party at 24% [Korea Gallup]

(Seoul=Yonhap Infomax) Nam Kyoung Hwang – President Lee Jae-myung’s job approval rating edged up, returning to the 60% range, according to a poll released on the 21st.

Korea Gallup surveyed 1,000 voters aged 18 and older nationwide from November 18 to 20, asking for their views on President Lee’s performance. 60% responded that he is “doing well.”

President Lee’s approval rating had stood at 63% in the first week of November, then dipped to 59% the following week. In the third week of November, it rebounded by 1 percentage point, signaling a renewed upward trend.

The negative assessment—those saying he is “doing poorly”—fell to 30%, down 2 percentage points from the previous week’s 32%.

10% of respondents withheld their opinion.

Among the 598 respondents who rated the president’s performance positively, the most cited reason was “diplomacy” (34%), followed by “economy and livelihoods” (14%), and “overall good performance” (8%).

Other reasons included “job competence/proficiency,” “APEC achievements,” and “drive/execution/speed,” each at 4%.

Of the 304 respondents with a negative view, 12% cited “morality issues/evading personal trial,” 11% pointed to the “Daejang-dong case/prosecutorial appeal withdrawal pressure,” 9% mentioned “economy and livelihoods,” and 7% referenced “real estate policy/loan regulations.”

By party support, the Democratic Party of Korea rose 1 percentage point to 43% from the previous week’s 42%.

The People Power Party remained unchanged at 24%. The Rebuilding Korea Party and Reform Party each recorded 3%, while the Progressive Party stood at 1%.

The proportion of respondents with no party affiliation was 26%.

The survey was conducted via random-digit-dialing interviews on mobile phones. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, with a contact rate of 46.0% and a response rate of 12.5%.

For further details, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

nkhwang@yna.co.kr

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