Cheong Wa Dae under pressure as Lee's approval rating falls for 4th straight week

Cheong Wa Dae is growing increasingly anxious as President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has fallen for four consecutive weeks. Public sentiment has soured following the government's tax reform proposal, with discontent over real estate policy deepening and stock market volatility keeping share prices under pressure. Adding to the strain, inter-ministry disagreements have surfaced over issues including an exemption from the 52-hour workweek cap for the semiconductor sector and the operation of a joint police-prosecution investigative body, drawing attention to Lee's ability to mediate and make decisive calls.

Cheong Wa Dae offered no response Monday to questions about the president's approval rating. The presidential office has consistently declined to comment on polling figures and signaled it would maintain that stance this time as well.

A survey conducted by Realmeter on behalf of the Energy Economy Newspaper, polling 2,514 eligible voters aged 18 and older nationwide from Aug. 3 to Aug. 7, found that 43.3 percent of respondents gave a positive assessment of Lee's job performance — down 2.6 percentage points from the previous week and the lowest recorded since he took office.

Realmeter said the decline was driven by overlapping factors including the real estate tax reform debate, controversy over amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, and concerns over the heat wave and economic instability, with support eroding particularly among voters in Seoul, conservatives and older age groups.

Lee had signaled his commitment to real estate reform at a public forum on the issue late last month, saying the government must be prepared to "accept a certain degree of conflict and resistance." The forum produced proposals including a strengthened property holding tax and caps on the number of times and total amount of capital gains tax exemptions and reductions — measures largely incorporated into the government's subsequent tax reform plan.

Stock market volatility has also weighed on the president's numbers. Cheong Wa Dae, led by policy chief Kim Yong-beom, has argued that single-stock leveraged ETFs do not account for all the uncertainties in current market conditions. But analysts note that because the government has actively encouraged a shift of capital into the stock market under the banner of productive finance, it now shares responsibility for the fallout from heightened market volatility.

Meanwhile, no clear resolution has emerged on the proposed exemption from the 52-hour workweek rule under the mega special zone legislation — where the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Employment and Labor remain at odds — or on the operation of the joint police-prosecution investigative body, an issue on which the Ministry of Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Justice publicly clashed during separate policy briefings.

Observers say Lee will ultimately have no choice but to step in and sort out these disputes himself. On real estate policy in particular, voices are calling for a public consultation process, given that Lee has said he is willing to correct anything "unjust or clearly wrong." Lee Kang-yun, former director of the Korea Society Opinion Institute, said "pinpoint policy adjustments are needed," adding, "Without careful consideration of how to fine-tune policy, public support for it will inevitably decline."

The poll cited in this article was conducted using an automated response system with random digit dialing on mobile phones (100 percent). The response rate for the presidential job approval survey was 4.0 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.0 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. Full details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.