President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating rose for a second consecutive week to 37.9%, according to a Realmeter poll released Monday. The survey of 1,508 adults nationwide was conducted from Monday through Wednesday last week. Positive assessments of Lee’s job performance increased 3.1 percentage points from the previous week, while negative assessments fell 3.3 points to 60.1%. The presidential poll had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Lee’s rating had declined for 10 weeks before turning upward in the previous survey. Realmeter said his clarification of key political issues at a Sept. 18 news conference, along with diplomacy at the U.N. General Assembly and the South Korea-U.S. summit, appeared to help. The pollster also said the withdrawal of Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won and presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik’s offer to resign were seen as signs of Lee’s commitment to personnel reform.
A separate poll of 1,005 adults, conducted last Tuesday and Wednesday, found the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) at 39.4% and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) at 38.7%. The PPP led for the first time in two weeks. The party poll’s margin of error was 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Realmeter said the PPP appeared to have gained support by helping expose weaknesses in the government’s vetting of senior personnel after two minister nominees withdrew. Both surveys were commissioned by EKN newspaper.