President Lee's Approval Rating at 35.3%... Seoul Metropolitan Voter Sentiment Sours, Democratic Party on "Red Alert" [Asia Business Daily-RealMeter Poll]

President Lee's approval rating falls 2.0 percentage points
People Power Party 42.6% vs. Democratic Party of Korea 35.3%
People Power Party leads Democratic Party of Korea beyond the margin of error for the first time in four months

President Lee Jaemyung’s job approval rating fell 2.0 percentage points in a week to 35.3%. Support for the Democratic Party of Korea also edged down, keeping it in the mid-30% range for the third consecutive week. For the first time since June, it trailed the People Power Party by more than the margin of error.

According to a regular poll conducted by Realmeter at the request of The Asia Business Daily and released on Oct. 26, the president’s job approval rating stood at 35.3%, down 2.0 percentage points from the weekly figure for the previous week (the third week of October). The poll surveyed 2,517 voters aged 18 or older nationwide over five days, from Oct. 19 to 23, using a mobile-phone automated response system. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 2.8%. The disapproval rating was 62.3% (51.6% saying he was doing a very poor job and 10.7% saying he was doing a poor job), up 1.9 percentage points from the previous week’s poll.

According to the party preference poll, the People Power Party’s support stood at 42.6%, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous week, while support for the Democratic Party of Korea was 36.0%, down 0.2 percentage points. The poll surveyed 1,003 voters aged 18 or older nationwide over two days, from Oct. 22 to 23, using a mobile-phone automated response system. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 3.2%. This is the first time in about four months that the People Power Party has led the Democratic Party of Korea by more than the margin of error, since the second week of June, shortly after the June 3 local elections, when the People Power Party had 44.3% support and the Democratic Party had 38.0%.

Particularly noteworthy in this poll is voter sentiment in the Seoul metropolitan area. Over the past week, support for the People Power Party in Incheon and Gyeonggi rose 3.3 percentage points, from 41.4% to 44.7%, while support for the Democratic Party fell 4.1 percentage points, from 39.5% to 35.4%. As a result, the People Power Party led the Democratic Party by 9.3 percentage points in Incheon and Gyeonggi. In Seoul, support for the Democratic Party rose 4.4 percentage points from the previous poll to 31.1%. However, support for the People Power Party also rose 3.8 percentage points to 49.5%, leaving it with an 18.4-point lead.

Kim Bongshin, CEO of MetaVoice, said of the poll, "Looking at past elections, the Seoul metropolitan area had been becoming something of a stronghold for the Democratic Party, but the recent trend has turned very unfavorable. Seoul has soured over real estate issues and tax reforms, while in Gyeonggi, Governor Choo Miae’s 'straw' remarks and policies have put her at odds with public sentiment." Kim added, "The atmosphere is completely different from that of the last general election, and the Democratic Party, which won a landslide in the Seoul metropolitan area then, is showing signs of danger."

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