According to a survey of over 2,000 voters conducted by pollster Realmeter last week and released on Monday, some 51.1 percent of respondents said Lee was doing well in his job while 44.5 percent said he wasn't.
His approval rating fell 5.4 percentage points from the previous week and 12.2 points compared with two weeks earlier, when it stood at 63.3 percent.
Realmeter speculated that the decline was largely due to his pardons of several controversial political figures including former Justice Minister and ex-leader of the minor Rebuilding Korea Party Cho Kuk, who was serving a prison term for corruption and document forgery related to his children's university admissions, and Yoon Mi-hyang, the former head of a charity for wartime sex slavery victims, who was handed a three-year suspended sentence last year for embezzling donations, among others.
Amid public criticism over their wrongdoings and irregularities, the two remain unremorseful, claiming their cases were politically motivated by the previous administration.
In a separate survey of about 1,000 voters conducted during the same week, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) earned 39.9 percent support, falling below 40 percent for the first time in about seven months, as Lee's approval rating tumbled.
But the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) rose 6.4 percentage points to 36.7 percent, narrowing the gap with the DP.
Meanwhile, a commemorative stamp marking the 100th day of Lee's inauguration will be issued next month. According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, a strip of the stamps will be available for purchase at Korea Post on Sept. 11, with prices ranging from 430 won to 27,000 won (about US$0.22 to $19.50).
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