President Lee Jae-myung speaks at the second public work report held with citizens at the Blue House on the 16th. Blue House Press Corps
Poll results on President Lee Jae-myung’s job performance. Photo courtesy of Gallup Korea
President Lee Jae-myung’s job approval rating fell slightly for a second consecutive week to 52%, according to a poll. Voters who disapproved of Lee’s performance raised particular complaints related to the currency exchange rate and real estate.
Gallup Korea released the results of its survey on the president’s job performance for the third week of July (the 14th to the 16th) on the 17th. When Gallup Korea asked 1,003 eligible voters aged 18 and older nationwide whether they believed Lee “is doing a good job or a poor job as president,” 52% of respondents answered that he is “doing a good job.”
This marks a slight decline for the second straight week, following 54% in the first week of July and 53% in the second week. It is 15 percentage points lower than the 67% recorded as the highest over the past six months. Conversely, respondents who assessed Lee’s performance negatively reached 37%, up 2 percentage points from the previous week. Those who withheld an opinion accounted for 11%.
The assessment of state affairs was sharply divided along political lines. Among Democratic Party of Korea supporters, 85% gave a positive assessment, while only 11% rated him negatively. By contrast, among People Power Party supporters, positive assessments stood at just 16%, with 72% saying Lee is doing a poor job. Among unaffiliated voters, negative assessments were also higher, at 40% versus 37% positive.
Responses were also divided by age. Those in their 40s and 50s recorded a positive assessment rate of 68%, while those in their 30s and 60s were in the 40% range, and those aged 10-20s and 70s and older remained in the 30% range. In particular, negative assessments among those in their 30s and those aged 70 and older were higher than positive ones, at 45% and 43% respectively, indicating especially low support for Lee. Among those in their teens and 20s, 22% withheld an opinion, the largest share of unaffiliated respondents.
By living standard, the middle class had the highest positive assessment at 55%, followed by the upper class at 53% and the lower class at 44%. Both men and women recorded positive assessments above 50% and negative assessments of 37%, showing little difference in state affairs support by gender.
The most cited reason for a positive assessment was that he “does well in diplomacy” (21%). This was followed by the economy and public livelihood (19%), “generally does well” (8%), job competence and capability (7%), communication (4%), policies for ordinary people and welfare (4%), and drive, execution and speed (3%).
Reasons for negative assessments mainly involved complaints related to the economy, public livelihood and the high exchange rate (16%) and real estate policy (11%). These were followed by “generally does poorly” (7%), morality issues and evasion of his own trials (5%), and dictatorship and arbitrariness (5%). Responses citing diplomacy, left-leaning bias, personnel appointments, faulty or fraudulent elections and National Election Commission issues, waste of state funds, supplementary budgets and fiscal expansion, and excessive welfare and livelihood support payments each accounted for 3%.
In party support, the Democratic Party recorded 40% and the People Power Party 26%. The Democratic Party fell 2 percentage points from the previous survey, while the People Power Party rose 2 percentage points. The Rebuilding Korea Party and the Reform Party each garnered 2%, while the Progressive Party and other parties each took 1%. Respondents who said they support no party reached 28%.
By ideological orientation, 74% of progressives said they support the Democratic Party, while 58% of conservatives said they support the People Power Party. Among moderates, 42% supported the Democratic Party, 19% the People Power Party, and 34% supported no particular party.
The survey was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) with randomly selected virtual mobile phone numbers. Details can be found on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.