Lee's approval rating drops 7 points to 57%, Gallup Korea finds

By Joo So-hyun, The Herald Business

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has fallen sharply to 57%, a drop of 7 percentage points from the previous survey, according to polling results Gallup Korea released Friday. On whether a re-election should be held following a ballot shortage at some precincts during the June 3 local elections, 44% said they were in favor and 48% were opposed.

The survey, conducted June 9–11 among 1,002 registered voters aged 18 and older nationwide, found that 57% gave a positive assessment of Lee's job performance while 35% gave a negative one. Eight percent withheld judgment. Compared with Gallup Korea's third-week-of-May survey, conducted May 19–21, the positive rating fell 7 percentage points and the negative rating rose by the same margin.

It is the first time Lee's approval rating has fallen into the 50s since the first week of February — roughly four months ago. His rating broke through the 60 percent mark at 63% in the second week of February before reaching a peak of 67% in the third week of March.

Among those who rated Lee's performance positively, the most common reason cited was the economy and livelihood at 21%, followed by diplomacy at 12%, general good performance at 9%, communication at 8%, job competence and capability and welfare policy for ordinary people at 5% each, rising share prices at 4%, and drive, execution and pace at 3%.

Among those who rated his performance negatively, 16% cited flawed election management, fraudulent elections and problems with the National Election Commission. That was followed by the economy, livelihood and the high exchange rate at 14%, real estate policy at 9%, ethical concerns and avoidance of his own trial at 8%, general poor performance and authoritarian or unilateral conduct at 6% each, and the proposal of a special prosecutor act to drop charges and excessive welfare and livelihood subsidies at 5% each.

Separately, 67% of respondents described the ballot shortage at some precincts during the June 3 local elections as "poor election management and an infringement of voting rights." Another 25% called it "evidence of illegal election interference and an attempt at electoral fraud," while 8% withheld judgment.

On the question of holding a full re-election, opinion was nearly evenly split, with 44% in favor and 48% opposed. Eight percent said they did not know or declined to answer.

The survey was conducted via telephone interviews using randomly selected virtual mobile numbers. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 11.3%. Further details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.