President Yoon’s approval rating has fallen to a new low of 19%, marking a decline of 3 percentage points from two weeks ago. According to a National Barometer Survey (NBS) conducted by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research, and Hankook Research from November 4 to 6, 2024, only 19% of respondents believe President Yoon is doing well in office. This figure has dropped below 20% for the first time based on NBS surveys since his inauguration, with the positive evaluation of his administration consistently declining since late July when it stood at 30%.
Furthermore, negative evaluations have reached an all-time high during Yoon’s presidency, with 74% of respondents now saying he is performing poorly, an increase of 7 percentage points. Across ideological lines, even among conservatives, 53% negatively rated his performance, while only 41% viewed it positively. Regionally, negative evaluations were higher even in traditional strongholds like Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongsangnam-do (PK) and Daegu and North Gyeongsang (TK).
By age group, 66% of those in their 60s and 54% of those aged 70 and above expressed dissatisfaction with his performance. Overall, in all regions and among all age groups, more respondents believed he was not performing well than those who thought he was. When asked about trust in his governance, only 24% expressed trust, while 73% did not, with the latter figure having increased by 8 percentage points from two weeks prior.
In response to questions about his declining approval ratings during a public briefing, President Yoon likened focusing on approval ratings to a baseball player focusing on the scoreboard instead of the game, stating that his stance on this matter remains unchanged. He acknowledged receiving advice to pay more attention to the ratings, yet noted that he does not believe in using tricks to boost approval ratings. Instead, he expressed a commitment to focusing on key issues that matter to future generations while minimizing public inconvenience. The NBS survey was conducted via phone interviews with a response rate of 17.3% and a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Additional details can be found on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission’s website.