[PolPol News] President Lee's Approval Drops 3 Points to 55%... 61% Support Creation of Future Response Fund

NBS Opinion Poll

Democratic Party 38%, People Power Party 22%

A recent public opinion poll showed that President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating has dropped slightly, remaining in the mid-50 percent range. While there is strong public support for the future response fund that President Lee is pushing for, negative opinions outweigh support regarding the integration of the Army, Navy, and Air Force academies.

According to the regular National Barometer Survey (NBS)—conducted by Embrain Public, KSTAT Research, Korea Research International, and Hankook Research and released on July 16, 2026—55% of respondents rated President Lee's performance in office positively. The survey, conducted from July 13 to 15 among 1,000 men and women nationwide aged 18 or older through mobile phone interviews (with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level and a response rate of 16.4%), found that the positive assessment of the president's performance fell by 3 percentage points compared to a similar survey two weeks ago. Negative views decreased by 1 percentage point to 34% from the previous survey.

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at a ministry briefing held at the Blue House's Yeongbingwan on the 16th. Photo by Yonhap News

In terms of party support, the approval rating for the Democratic Party fell by 4 percentage points from the previous survey to 38%. The People Power Party's support increased by 2 percentage points to 22%. The Reform New Party polled at 3%, while both the Cho Kuk Innovation Party and the Progressive Party each recorded 2%.

In this regular survey, 61% of respondents said they supported the government's plan to establish a future response fund using additional tax revenue from the semiconductor boom to foster future industries, promote balanced regional development, and support youth policies. Meanwhile, 24% said they opposed the plan.

Regarding the proposal to integrate the three military academies into the Korea Military Academy, 55% expressed opposition, saying that such integration would weaken the expertise and specialization of each branch. This outnumbered the 34% who supported integration on the grounds that it would enhance joint operational capabilities across the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

For more detailed information on the poll, please refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.