Approval ratings for Yoon, PPP keep sliding

President Yoon Suk-yeol responds to questions from the media on his way to work in Yongsan District, central Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval rating dropped for the fourth consecutive week and his disapproval rating broke the 60 percent mark for the first time in a Realmeter poll since he was inaugurated two months ago.

Among 2,519 adults who were surveyed across the nation last week by the local pollster, only 33.4 percent said they supported Yoon, down 3.6 percentage points from the previous week. Another 63.3 percent said they disapproved of the president, up 6.3 percentage points from the week before.

In the weekly Realmeter poll, Yoon’s disapproval rating was higher than his approval rating for the fourth straight week.

The approval rating for Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) slipped to 39.1 percent, down 1.8 percentage points from the week before, whereas that of the rival Democratic Party (DP) rose 2.4 percentage points to reach 44.2 percent. The results marked the seventh straight week that the PPP’s approval rating dropped and the DP’s approval rating rose.

In a statement, Realmeter said Yoon’s approval rating could dip below the 30 percent mark if he and the PPP fail to convey a “meaningful message” to the public.

A number of issues has affected the president and his PPP’s approval ratings since Yoon came into office on May 10.

Most recently, Yoon has been accused of using personal connections for hires in the presidential office, which the DP characterizes as allowing buddies to intervene in state affairs – akin to what got the former conservative President Park Geun-hye impeached and removed from office.

Several lawmakers who spoke with the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday expressed fears that Yoon and the party were losing the public support needed to carry out state policies, some even warning that lower-level officials in the Yoon administration might not react seriously to orders from the higher ranks.

Given that the DP holds a super-majority in the National Assembly, any sense of noncompliance from Yoon’s own administration, coupled with public distrust, can genuinely undermine Yoon’s leadership, PPP lawmakers pointed out.

“We must do whatever it takes to stop President Yoon’s approval rating from sinking below 30 percent,” a three-term PPP lawmaker told a JoongAng Ilbo reporter over the phone, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Even as the PPP and the Yoon administration are trying to turn the tide by blaming former President Moon Jae-in and his DP for their botched handling of several issues involving North Korea in previous years, the three-term PPP lawmaker stressed that it isn’t helping the approval ratings at all.

“It’s important that we get to the bottom of these cases," the lawmaker said, "but at a time when the nation is suffering from inflation, people are more interested in how the government and PPP devise measures to stabilize their livelihoods.”

BY LEE SUNG-EUN, SON KOOK-HEE [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]