The approval rating of President Yoon Suk-yeol, which had recovered to above 20% after a public address and press conference, fell back to the 10% range within three weeks. According to the results of a survey conducted by polling agency Gallup Korea on 1,001 adults nationwide from the 26th to the 28th, the positive evaluation of President Yoon’s job performance was 19%, a drop of 1 percentage point compared to the previous week, while the negative evaluation remained the same at 72%.
Among the conservative supporters, President Yoon’s positive evaluation dropped to 36%, a decrease of 7 percentage points from the previous week, and the negative evaluation increased by 7 percentage points to 56%. By region, the approval rating in Daegu and North Gyeongsang (TK) was 40%, down 1 percentage point from the previous week (41%), and in Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang (PK), it was 22%, a drop of 4 percentage points compared to the previous week (26%). The ratings also declined in Seoul (17%) and Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong (21%).
The most cited reason for the positive evaluation was diplomacy at 41%. Recently, President Yoon has been actively engaging in diplomacy, including a South American tour and summits with the visiting Prime Minister of Malaysia and the President of Latvia. Other reasons for the positive evaluation included ‘hardworking’ (6%), ‘economics and livelihoods,’ ‘decisiveness and persistence,’ ‘overall good performance,’ and ‘policies and welfare for the common people’ (each 4%).
The main reason cited for the negative evaluation was ‘economy, livelihoods, and prices’ at 15%. The issue concerning Kim Keon-hee, the First Lady, also remained a top reason for negative evaluation at 12%, consistent with the previous week. The issue surrounding Kim Keon-hee has remained at the top of the negative evaluations for seven consecutive weeks. Despite the First Lady halting official activities and not appearing in public following President Yoon’s public address and press conference on the 7th, it still remains a significant factor in negative evaluations. Other reasons for negative evaluations included diplomacy (8%), ‘insufficient communication’ (7%), and ‘overall poor performance’ (6%).
This survey was conducted using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) with randomly selected mobile phone numbers provided by the three mobile carriers. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. More details can be found on the websites of Gallup Korea and the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.