President Lee’s Approval Rating Rebounds to Upper 30s... Internal Strife Rocks Democratic Party and People Power Party [Asia Business Daily-Realmeter Poll]

Weekly Opinion Poll
President Lee's Approval Rating Rises 2.1 Points to 37.3%
Democratic Party Support Wavers Among Voters in Their 30s to 50s; People Power Party Support Among Those 70 and Older Also Slips

President Lee Jae-myung's job approval rating rebounded for the first time in three weeks, rising to the upper 30% range. As the gap in support between the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party narrowed, signs emerged that the two parties' core support bases were wavering.

A regular poll conducted by Realmeter at the request of The Asia Business Daily and released on October 19 found that President Lee's job approval rating stood at 37.3%, up 2.1 percentage points from the previous week's weekly survey (the second week of October). The poll surveyed 2,520 voters aged 18 or older nationwide over five days, from October 12 to 16, using an automated response system on mobile phones. The margin of error was ±2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 2.7%. Disapproval stood at 60.4%, down 1.0 percentage point from the previous week's poll.

The rebound recouped most of the decline recorded the previous week. President Lee's approval rating fell by 2.2 percentage points last week, then rose by 2.1 percentage points this week, bringing it close to the 37.4% recorded in the first week of October.

In daily figures, his approval rating rose from 34.2% on October 8 to as high as 41.4% on October 13, before falling to 37.7% on October 14 and 34.5% on October 15. It was recorded at 35.8% on October 16, up 1.3 percentage points. Emphasis on livelihood policies early in the week appears to have driven the rebound, but some of the gains were given back toward the end of the week amid stock market jitters.

According to a party approval poll conducted over two days, from October 15 to 16, among 1,005 voters aged 18 or older nationwide using an automated response system on mobile phones, the Democratic Party's approval rating stood at 36.2%, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous week's poll. The People Power Party's approval rating was 40.9%, down 0.4 percentage points. The People Power Party continued to lead the Democratic Party within the margin of error, but the gap narrowed to 4.7 percentage points. The Cho Kuk Innovation Party was at 6.9%, the Reform Party at 1.8%, the Progressive Party at 1.1%, other parties at 2.2%, and independents at 11.1%. The margin of error was ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 2.7%.

One notable point is that the core support bases of the Democratic Party and the People Power Party appear to be wavering. A comparison of Realmeter's poll from the first week of October (conducted from October 1 to 2) with this week's poll (the third week of October) shows that support for the Democratic Party fell by 14.4 percentage points among voters in their 30s (from 41.9% to 27.5%), 15.2 percentage points among those in their 40s (from 53.7% to 38.5%), and 8.8 percentage points among those in their 50s (from 50.1% to 41.3%). By contrast, support for the People Power Party rose by 13.2 percentage points among voters in their 30s (from 37.5% to 50.7%) and 6.5 percentage points among those in their 40s (from 29.9% to 36.4%). The opposite trend was seen among voters aged 70 and older. Over the two-week period, support for the Democratic Party rose by 6.1 percentage points (from 32.1% to 38.2%), while support for the People Power Party fell by 12.6 percentage points (from 54.8% to 42.2%). The Democratic Party had been stronger among middle-aged voters, while the People Power Party had been stronger among older voters, but the support trends have shifted.

Kim Bong-shin, CEO of Metavoice, said, "The Democratic Party's approval rating remained weak as respondents who had supported commentator Yoo Si-min, former party leader Chung Cheong-rae, and Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae became less likely to respond." He added, "Recent trends presented a good opportunity for the People Power Party, but internal strife flared up over issues such as the selection of the organizational committee chair for Yongin Gap, making it difficult for the party to use internal divisions as an opportunity to rebound in the polls."

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