Martial Law Hits Public Opinion Hard… Centrists Turn Away
On the afternoon of the 5th, a candlelight cultural rally calling for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s resignation took place on the steps in front of the National Assembly’s main building, led by the Democratic Party of Korea.
Following the December 3 martial law incident, public opinion has rapidly shifted away from President Yoon Suk-yeol. His approval ratings have fallen to their lowest point since his inauguration, with significant declines noted among those in their twenties and thirties and centrist voters.
According to a poll by Gallup Korea released on the 6th, conducted between the 3rd and the 5th with 1,001 voters aged 18 and older nationwide, President Yoon’s job performance approval rating dropped by 3 percentage points to 16%. This surpassed the previous low of 17% recorded in the first week of November, marking a new record low. Meanwhile, the disapproval rating increased by 3 percentage points to a yearly high of 75%.
Narrowing the response period to the immediate aftermath of the martial law declaration and its lifting on the 4th and 5th, the approval rating decreases further. Gallup Korea explained, “Considering the two days after the martial law incident, the approval rating dropped to 13%, while disapproval surged to 80%.”
Particularly by age group, President Yoon’s support from people in their 20s to 40s is in the single digits. Those aged 18 to 29 showed an approval rating of 7%, 30s at 3%, and 40s at 8%, showing a decrease of 3 percentage points, 5 percentage points, and 3 percentage points from the previous week, respectively.
By political orientation, the largest decline in support was among centrists. In this survey, the approval rating among centrists was 10%, a drop of 6 percentage points from the previous week. Conservative support declined by 3 percentage points to 33%, and liberal support fell by 1 percentage point to 4%. The disapproval among centrists also rose by 5 percentage points to 80%, significantly exceeding the overall average of 75%.
The major reason for the sharp decline in President Yoon’s approval rating is identified as the martial law incident. In reasons for negative evaluations of his job performance, “economy/livelihood/inflation” (19%) and “martial law incident” (16%) were mentioned, with Gallup Korea analyzing, “Considering the timing, the martial law incident can be seen as the most notable issue.”
This poll was conducted via interviews with randomly selected mobile phone numbers. The response rate was 12.0%. Further details can be found on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission’s website.