President Lee Jae Myung's Approval Rating Falls to New Low of 40.2 Percent, Extending Six-Week Slide
Key Takeaways
- •Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating fell 2.8 percentage points from the previous week to 40.2 percent, a new low in Realmeter’s weekly tracking.
- •Negative views of Lee’s performance rose to 56.9 percent, up 2.8 percentage points week on week.
- •Realmeter linked the decline to controversy over housing policy, a proposal involving apartments in Yongsan Park, and disputes over Supreme Court justice nominations.
- •The pollster also cited security concerns after reduced South Korea-U.S. military drills, with weaker support among conservative voters and those aged 70 and older.
- •In a separate Realmeter survey, support for the Democratic Party of Korea fell to 41.9 percent, while backing for the People Power Party increased to 37.6 percent.
President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has slipped to a new low of 40.2 percent, marking the sixth consecutive week of decline, a poll showed Monday.
Lee took office in June 2025 after winning a snap presidential election that followed the impeachment and removal of his predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, over the December 2024 martial law declaration, and he serves under South Korea's single five-year presidential term.
The survey, conducted by pollster Realmeter on 2,026 voters from Tuesday to Friday and commissioned by the EKN newspaper, showed Lee's approval rating falling 2.8 percentage points from the previous week. At the same time, 56.9 percent of respondents gave a negative assessment of his job performance, an increase of 2.8 percentage points from a week earlier.
Realmeter attributed the latest decline to several factors. The pollster cited growing distrust of the government's housing policies amid controversy over a recent proposal to build apartments in Yongsan Park in central Seoul, as well as partisan clashes over Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's recommendation of two new Supreme Court justice nominees to the president in writing. That move drew controversy because the chief justice has usually made such recommendations to the president in person after prior coordination. Yongsan Park occupies the former site of a US military base and has been opened in stages since 2023 under a plan to turn it into a national park. Under South Korea's Constitution, Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president with the consent of the National Assembly from candidates recommended by the chief justice.
Realmeter also pointed to security concerns following the scaled-back military drills between South Korea and the United States, noting that the approval rating declined among conservative voters and those aged 70 and older.
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
In a separate poll conducted by the same pollster, support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea dropped 6 percentage points from a week earlier to 41.9 percent, while support for the main opposition People Power Party rose 4.5 percentage points to 37.6 percent. The Democratic Party and its allies have held a majority in the 300-seat National Assembly since the April 2024 general election.
That poll was conducted on 1,009 individuals aged 18 and older on Thursday and Friday, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
Realmeter, one of South Korea's major polling firms, has run weekly tracking surveys commissioned by media outlets for years, and its next weekly readings will show whether the declines for Lee and his party extend further.
Source: The Korea Times
