Key facts
- President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating rose to 37.9% for the second straight week.
- Positive assessments of Lee's job performance increased by 3.1 percentage points.
- Negative assessments of Lee's job performance fell to 60.1%.
- The People Power Party (PPP) garnered 39.4% support, surpassing the ruling Democratic Party (DP) at 38.7%.
- The poll was conducted on 1,508 adults nationwide from Sept. 18-20.
- The survey on political parties polled 1,005 adults on Sept. 24-25.
President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has risen for the second consecutive week, reaching 37.9 percent, according to a poll released Monday by Realmeter. The poll, conducted on 1,508 adults nationwide from September 18-20, indicated that positive assessments of Lee's job performance increased by 3.1 percentage points from the previous week, while negative assessments fell by 3.3 percentage points to 60.1 percent.
Lee's approval rating had previously declined for 10 weeks before turning upward in the prior poll. Realmeter attributed the recent increase to Lee's clarification of key political issues during a press conference on September 18, as well as his overseas diplomacy at the U.N. General Assembly and a South Korea-U.S. summit. The withdrawal of Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won and the resignation offer from presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik were also cited as factors demonstrating Lee's commitment to personnel reform.
In a separate poll of 1,005 adults conducted on September 24-25, support for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) surpassed that for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) for the first time in two weeks. The PPP garnered 39.4 percent support, compared to the DP's 38.7 percent. Realmeter suggested the PPP's rally in support may be linked to its role in exposing the government's personnel vetting system amid the withdrawals of two minister nominees. The survey on the president had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, while the poll on political parties had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Both surveys were commissioned by EKN newspaper.