President Yoon's approval rating drops to 10% range

A recent polling result showed that the respondent ratio positively assessed President Yoon Suk Yeol's running of state affairs, which has fallen into the 10% range for the first time since his inauguration. That means the so-called 'psychological limit' of the 20% threshold has collapsed even before reaching the halfway point of his term. The psychological limit of 20% is widely believed to be a significant loss of the incumbent administration's momentum for running state affairs. The ruling party is also raising voices, saying that the 10%-range approval rating is usually seen only at the end of a term and that the approval will continue to fall if President Yoon does not take any firm action.

According to the polls conducted between Tuesday and Thursday and released on Friday by Gallup Korea, the positive assessment of President Yoon's governance was recorded at 19%, a record-low during the term, and the negative assessment reached 72%, a record high.

In particular, Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, traditional conservative strongholds, showed an 18% approval rating, a whopping 8 percentage points drop from last week's 26%. The figure signals conservatives are starting to turn their backs away from the president, recording an approval rating 1 percentage point lower than the national average. It is the first time that Yoon's approval rating dipped to the 10% range in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions. It is lower than that after the heavy by-election defeat on April 26.

Yoon's approval ratings on running the state affairs are sliding down in many of the key stronghold regions other than Daegu and Gyeongbuk, including Busan and Gyeongnam, as well as the support base of the ruling People Power Party, conservatives, and those in the 60s. Approval ratings in the Busan and Gyeongnam regions posted 22%, a 5-percentage-point drop from last week, and those of voters in their 60s and over also recorded 24%, a 7% point drop since last week. On top of that, only 33% of the self-professed conservatives said they support Yoon's running state affairs, a 7-percentage-point drop from the last week, and a mere 44% of the ruling People Power party supporters view President Yoon positively, a 4-percentage-point drop from last week's 48%.

Many believe that the approval ratings may have been affected by the call recording featuring a conversation between President Yoon and Myeong Tae-kyun, a key figure in alleged nomination interference disclosed by the opposition Democratic Party on Thursday. Gallup Korea analyzed that the effect of the disclosed call recording may be reflected later, meaning that the approval rating can further go down.

High-ranking officials at the People Power Party also noted that the key support base is confirmed to be draining out. They also said that President Yoon should be straightforward about the suspicions surrounding the First Lady and make sweeping changes to stop the approval ratings from plummeting further.

Presidential Chief of Staff Jeong Jin-suk also said during the inspection of the National Assembly steering committee that he believes that President Yoon also knows about the polling results and that he will exert himself to persuade and win the hearts of the other side.


Na-Ri Shin journari@donga.com