Lee Jae Myung’s Approval Rating Hits New Low at 40%; Disapproval at 51%, with ‘Real Estate’ Cited as Top Reason [Gallup Korea Research Institute]

[Financial News] A Gallup Korea Research Institute poll released on the 4th found that President Lee Jae Myung’s job approval rating had fallen to 40%, again reaching its lowest level since he took office. Disapproval stood at 51%, remaining above half for the second consecutive week, while real-estate policy was cited most often as the reason for negative evaluations.
According to the survey conducted by the Gallup Korea Research Institute from the 1st to the 3rd among 1,001 people aged 18 and older nationwide, 40% of respondents approved of Lee’s job performance. That was down 2 percentage points from 42% in the survey for the fourth week of August, released on the 28th of last month, marking the lowest level since he took office.
By contrast, 51% said he was “doing a poor job.” The gap between approval and disapproval widened to 11 percentage points. Another 9% withheld an opinion.
Real-estate policy accounted for the largest share of reasons for disapproval, at 23%. It was followed by the economy and people’s livelihoods at 11%, personnel appointments at 9%, and “ethical issues and avoiding his own trial” and “doing a poor job overall,” each at 6%.
Real-estate issues were identified as the biggest factor behind the decline in approval even after the government partially reversed measures, including its plan to reduce the basic deduction for the comprehensive real-estate tax for non-resident owners of a single home, following controversy over its proposed real-estate tax reforms.
The economy and people’s livelihoods was the most frequently cited reason for approval, at 14%, followed by diplomacy at 13%, “doing a good job overall” at 10%, communication at 8%, and real-estate policy at 6%.
In party support, the ruling party edged down while the People Power Party gained ground. The Democratic Party of Korea stood at 38%, down 1 percentage point from the previous week, while the People Power Party rose 5 points to 30%. The Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP) recorded 3%, while the Reform Party and Progressive Party each stood at 1%. Independents accounted for 25%.
The survey was conducted through interviewer-assisted telephone interviews using randomly selected wireless-phone virtual numbers. The margin of sampling error was ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 10.9%. Further details are available on the website of the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission.
[email protected] Seong Seok-woo Reporter