President Lee Jae-myung’s approval rating for handling state affairs was reported to be 54.5% according to a recent poll.
On September 15th, Realmeter conducted a survey commissioned by Energy Economics News, polling 2,515 eligible voters aged 18 and above nationwide from the 8th to the 12th of the month. The results showed that 54.5% of respondents positively evaluated President Lee’s performance, marking a 1.5 percentage point drop from the previous week.
President Lee’s approval rating had shown a rising trend for three consecutive weeks but saw a slight decline recently. Those who rated his performance negatively increased by 1.9 percentage points to 41.1%, while 4.4% responded with “don’t know.”
The decline in President Lee’s approval rating followed several events, including the parliamentary consent for the arrest of lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong and the breakdown of bipartisan agreements on the three major special prosecutor laws. Realmeter analyzed that increasing political turmoil negatively affected the approval ratings, ultimately leading to a downward trend.
Regionally, President Lee’s approval fell in most areas, including a 2.0 percentage point decrease in Gwangju and Jeolla, traditionally strongholds for progressives, where support stood at 73.1%. In contrast, Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam saw a 3.3 percentage point increase, reaching an approval rate of 54.6%.
By age, noticeable declines were observed among those in their 20s at 39.8% (down 4.2 percentage points) and in their 40s at 66.3% (down 2.3 percentage points). Support from the centrist group fell by 2.7 percentage points to 57.0%.
A separate party support survey conducted on September 11-12 with 1,001 eligible voters nationwide found the Democratic Party at 44.3%, while the People Power Party stood at 36.4%. Democratic Party support fell by 0.3 percentage points, whereas People Power Party support rose by 0.2 percentage points, continuing a three-week upward trend. The gap between the two parties narrowed slightly from 8.4 percentage points last week to 7.9 percentage points this week.
Realmeter attributed the drop in Democratic Party support to internal conflicts over the special prosecutor law agreement among the party leadership, while the rise in People Power Party support was seen as a rebound effect from their opposition struggle during the special prosecutor law negotiations. Other support rates included the Innovation Party at 2.6%, the Reform Party at 4.4%, and the Progressive Party at 1.5%.
Both surveys were conducted through automated telephone responses. The approval rating survey for President Lee had a margin of error of ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the party support survey had a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at the same confidence level. The response rate for the approval rating survey was 5.1%, while the party support survey had a response rate of 4.2%.