President Lee's Approval Rating Drops to 48.4%

President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating has slightly decreased to 48.4%, according to a public opinion poll released on July 20.

The survey, conducted by Realmeter from July 13 to 16 among 2,007 eligible voters aged 18 and older, indicated that the positive evaluation of President Lee's performance fell by 0.5 percentage points from the previous week.

Negative evaluations rose to 48.0%, an increase of 0.3 percentage points. The gap between positive and negative evaluations was within the margin of error at 0.4 percentage points, while 3.6% of respondents indicated they did not know.

Realmeter attributed the slight decline in approval ratings to economic challenges such as interest rate hikes and stock market declines, as well as internal conflicts over investigative authority within the ruling party and author Yoo Si-min's comments on 'inevitable failure,' which have led to a loss of support among key demographics, particularly those in their 40s and progressive voters.

In a separate survey conducted on July 15-16 regarding party support, the Democratic Party received 43.1%, while the People Power Party garnered 40.0%. The gap between the two parties was reported at 3.1 percentage points. The Justice Party received 3.1%, the Reform Party 2.7%, and the Progressive Party 1.3%. Other parties accounted for 1.2%, with 8.5% of respondents identifying as undecided.

This survey utilized a 100% random sampling method with automated response (ARS) technology. The response rate for the presidential approval rating survey was 4.0%, with a margin of error of ±2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The party support survey had a response rate of 2.8% and a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at the same confidence level.

For more details, please refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.