The approval rating for President Moon Jae-in has fallen to 36.7%, the lowest ever, the Realmeter said in its survey on Dec. 14. President Moon's highest positive assessment since taking office was 84 percent in the first week of June 2017.
According to a five-day survey (Dec. 7~11) of 2,531 people aged 18 or older conducted by Realmeter at the request of YTN, the approval rating for President Moon (positive assessment) was 36.7 percent, down 0.7 percentage points from the previous week.
On the contrary, the negative assessment rose by 0.8 percentage points to 58.2 percent. Unanswered or not-knowing answers were down 0.1 percentage point to 5.1 percent.
The positive assessment for President Moon's performance in state affairs has remained in the 30 percent range for the second consecutive week.
The decline in the rating was 6.0 percentage points in Busan, Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province and 4.2 percentage points in Seoul. The approval rating by those in their 20s also dropped by 5.0 percentage points.
The approval rating by liberals (4.2% p↓) and those in their 40s (3.7% p↓) who were considered traditional supporters for President Moon also fell. However, the rating rose slightly in Gwangju, Jeolla Province (1.5% p↑) and women (0.9% p↑).
Realmeter analyzed that the governmenmt’s delayed COVID-19 vaccination plan, President Moon's stance on the conflict between Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, the Democratic Party's railroading of a revision bill to the Act for Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), and the cabinet reshuffle of some ministries may have affected the negative approval rating.
The approval rating for political parties was 31.6 percent for the opposition People Power Party and 30.8 percent for the ruling Democratic Party. It rose 0.3 percentage points and 1.1 percentage points, respectively, from the previous week.
The gap between the two parties is 0.8 percentage points, within the margin of error (95 percent confidence level plus ±2.0 percentage points).