Yoon's approval rating hits all-time low following PPP's crushing defeat

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks in a Cabinet meeting held at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul, on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating hit a historic low following his conservative party’s election loss last week.

Yoon's approval rating plunged to 27 percent in the third week of April, down 11 percentage points, according to the National Barometer Survey (NBS), a biweekly poll jointly conducted by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research.

The poll surveyed 1,004 respondents 18 or older from Monday through Wednesday.

This marks a new low in the president’s approval rating since he assumed office. Yoon's lowest approval rating in the NBS polls was previously recorded at 28 percent in the second week of August 2022. This week’s approval rating also significantly dropped from 36 percent in the third week of March and 38 percent in the first week of April.

The record-low approval rating came as his conservative People Power Party (PPP) suffered a crushing defeat in the general election. The liberal Democratic Party (DP) and its satellite party, the Democratic United Party (DUP), secured 175 seats, including 14 proportional representation seats, while the PPP and its affiliated People Future Party (PFP) claimed 108 seats, including 18 proportional spots.

Yoon's disapproval rating stood at 63 percent, up 9 percentage points from two weeks ago.

Fewer respondents expressed trust in the president’s handling of state affairs, with the figure dropping by 9 percentage points from two weeks ago to 31 percent. Those expressing distrust in Yoon’s handling of state affairs rose to 65 percent, up by 9 percentage points.

Support for the PPP dropped 7 percentage points, and that for the DP went up 3 percentage points, with both now at 32 percent.

Support for the liberal Rebuilding Korea Party, led by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, rose to 13 percent, up 3 percentage points.

Regarding last week’s election result, 40 percent of respondents said liberal parties secured more seats than expected, while 28 percent answered that the conservative faction secured more parliamentary seats than anticipated.

In the same survey, economic policies were mentioned as the top priority for the 22nd National Assembly, followed by policies on social safety, real estate, welfare, diplomacy, education and labor. The 22nd National Assembly begins on May 30.

The survey had a response rate of 14 percent, with a confidence interval of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]