President Lee Jae-myung speaks while presiding over a meeting of senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae on the 20th of this month. Cheong Wa Dae Press Corps
President Lee Jae-myung’s job approval rating has edged up to 45% after falling to a post-inauguration low of 44%, drawing even with his disapproval rating, a new poll showed.
Gallup Korea surveyed 1,004 eligible voters aged 18 and over nationwide from the 18th to the 20th and released the results on the 21st. Of those surveyed, 45% assessed Lee’s performance in office positively, while 45% assessed it negatively. Lee’s approval rating had hit a post-inauguration low of 44% in the second week of August.
The stalled rating is attributed to housing policy, the push to establish a national military academy and recent remarks on North Korea by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Among respondents who assessed Lee’s performance negatively, 28% cited housing policy as the reason. The economy and livelihood issues followed at 12%, with defense, security and North Korea policy at 7%. Housing has been the most frequently cited reason for negative assessments since the fourth week of July.
In party support, both the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party recorded the same ratings as in the previous survey. The Democratic Party stood at 41% and the People Power Party at 25%. Among moderates, the Democratic Party drew 39% support and the People Power Party 20%. The Rebuilding Korea Party recorded 3%, the Reform Party 2% and the Progressive Party 1%, while 28% said they support no party.
On the domestic stock market, which has swung sharply in recent weeks, 37% of respondents expected the index to rise over the next year. Another 29% expected it to fall and 18% expected no change.
By contrast, 36% expected the domestic economy to worsen over the next year, 4 percentage points higher than those who expected it to improve.
The survey was conducted through computer-assisted telephone interviews using virtual mobile numbers randomly drawn from lists provided by the country’s three mobile carriers. The response rate was 10.0%, and the margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Further details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.