Yoon's approval drops to record low, disapproval reaches 71.3%

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Yoon's approval drops to record low, disapproval reaches 71.3%

Published: 14 Oct. 2024, 11:18 Updated: 14 Oct. 2024, 13:02

President Yoon Suk Yeol walks into a meeting room at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Oct. 2. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating has matched its record low, according to the latest public opinion survey released by pollster Realmeter on Monday.

The survey showed that 25.8 percent of the 2,009 respondents over 18 rated the president’s performance positively.

Yoon’s approval rating is 2.1 percentage points lower than last week’s survey and the same as the survey conducted from Sept. 23 to 27. It is 1.2 percentage points lower than Yoon’s previous record low, which was 27 percent in a survey conducted from Sept. 9 to 13.

The percentage of people who told the pollster they disapproved of Yoon’s job performance rose by 3.2 percentage points from the previous week to 71.3 percent, marking the highest disapproval rate since Yoon took office.

Approval of the president’s job performance fell across all age groups except for those in their 20s, according to the survey.

Regionally, approval of the president’s performance dropped in Seoul, Busan, Ulsan, South Gyeongsang, Daejeon, Sejong, Chungcheong, Incheon and the Gyeonggi region.

The survey, conducted from Oct. 7 to 11, had a confidence interval of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. Surveys were not conducted on Oct. 9, as it was Hangul Day, a national holiday celebrating the creation of hangul, the Korean alphabet.

A separate Realmeter survey conducted during the same period with the same respondents found that 30.8 percent supported the People Power Party (PPP), which is aligned with the Yoon administration, while 43.9 percent expressed support for the Democratic Party (DP).

Support for the PPP fell by 1.9 percentage points compared to the previous week’s survey, while support for the DP rose by 1.5 percentage points.

Another 9.3 percent of respondents said they supported the Rebuilding Korea Party, led by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk — an outspoken critic of the Yoon administration — while 3.8 percent said they supported the Reform Party, led by former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]