Lee's approval rating hits record low of 37% on day of press conference: Gallup Korea

A poll released Friday showed President Lee Jae Myung's job approval rating at 37 percent — the lowest since he took office and down 1 percentage point from the previous survey. The result comes as Lee faces mounting controversy over issues including a constitutional amendment to allow consecutive terms and the withdrawal of criminal charges against him, and as he holds a press conference focused on current affairs in a bid to reverse the slide.

In a Gallup Korea survey of 1,002 people aged 18 and older nationwide conducted Tuesday through Thursday, 37 percent said Lee was doing his job well, while 56 percent said he was not. Compared with the previous poll, the positive rating fell 1 percentage point while the negative rating rose 5 points — marking a record low for approval and a record high for disapproval.

Lee's approval rating had hovered in the 60 percent range from March through May, before the June 3 local elections, then entered the 50s in June and continued to decline. It stood at 54 percent in the first week of July and 46 percent in the second week of August. In the third week of August, positive and negative ratings tied at 45 percent each, marking the point at which disapproval crossed above approval. Since then, the rating has fallen further: 42 percent in the fourth week of August, 40 percent in the first week of September, 38 percent in the second week of September, and 37 percent in the latest survey.

By region, negative ratings outpaced positive ones everywhere except South Jeolla Province, Gwangju and North Jeolla Province. Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province recorded the lowest approval at 26 percent, the only region in the 20s. Seoul followed at 30 percent, then Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province at 34 percent, Daejeon, Sejong and the Chungcheong provinces at 35 percent, and Incheon and Gyeonggi Province at 39 percent. South Jeolla Province, Gwangju and North Jeolla Province posted the highest approval at 61 percent.

Negative ratings also exceeded positive ones across all age groups except those in their 40s. Those in their 30s had the lowest approval at 31 percent, followed by those in their 60s at 32 percent and those aged 18 to 29 and 70 and older at 33 percent. Among those in their 50s, approval stood at 46 percent, 3 points below the disapproval rate of 49 percent, within the margin of error. Among those in their 40s, approval and disapproval were tied at 47 percent each.

Among those who rated Lee's performance positively, "diplomacy" was cited most often at 26 percent, followed by "economy and livelihoods" at 11 percent, "doing well overall" at 6 percent, "welfare policy for ordinary people" at 5 percent, and "working hard," "competence," "communication," "national stability and normalization," and "change and innovation" at 3 percent each.

Among those with a negative view, "real estate policy" ranked first at 20 percent, followed by "personnel appointments" at 16 percent. Lee recently carried out a cabinet reshuffle involving six ministries, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. "Economy and livelihoods" came in at 9 percent, while "curtailing prosecutorial powers," "ethical concerns and avoiding his own trial," and "doing poorly overall" each stood at 5 percent. "Excessive welfare and livelihood subsidies" and "national defense and security" were each cited by 3 percent. Gallup Korea noted that real estate issues have consistently topped the list of reasons for negative ratings since the fourth week of July.

The survey was conducted via telephone interviews using randomly selected virtual mobile numbers. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 9.8 percent. For further details, visit the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.