Yoon’s approval rating rebounds slightly in 3 weeks

According to poll results released on Friday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating for handling the country’s affairs has exceeded 20 percent for the first time in three weeks. His approval rating fell below 20 percent, which is considered a psychological threshold that the president loses power over handling state affairs, two weeks ago and continued to decline to a low of 17 percent before the halfway point of the president’s term. The latest increase marks a slight rebound. However, even though the decline in his approval rating has stopped, issues related to First Lady Kim Keon Hee have remained the most-cited reason (16 percent) for a negative opinion of the president for the fourth consecutive week.

According to the poll results for the second week of November released by Gallup Korea on Friday, President Yoon’s approval rating was 20 percent, up three percentage points from the previous week. His unfavorable rating was 71 percent, down three percentage points from the previous week (74 percent), the highest since he took office.

Looking at approval ratings by region, the president’s approval rating in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province (TK), his core conservative base, was 37 percent, up 14 percentage points from last week’s survey. “President Yoon’s approval rating has stopped declining, with the biggest changes occurring among People Power Party supporters, those in their 70s and older, and in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province,” Gallup Korea explained. ”It appears that some of his existing supporters paid attention to and responded to his public talks and press conferences on November 7.”


Na-Ri Shin journari@donga.com