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President Lee gets 58% approval for first week in office

Published: 16 Jun. 2025, 12:27

President Lee Jae-myung speaks by phone with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the presidential office in Seoul on June 12. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Lee Jae-myung is beginning his term with a decent footing as over 58 percent of the country positively evaluates his handling of state affairs during his first week in office, according to a recent poll released Monday.

A total of 58.6 percent of respondents said Lee was “doing well,” 34.2 percent said he was “doing poorly” and 7.2 percent responded that they were "unsure," in a survey released Monday by pollster Realmeter.

The survey was conducted from last Monday to Friday on 2,507 adults aged 18 and older nationwide. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 6.3 percent.

Realmeter analyzed that expectations for improving economic indicators, including the Kospi surpassing the 2,900 mark, phone calls with the leaders of Japan and China, meetings with business associations and efforts to propose a supplementary budget all appeared to contribute positively.

Compared to the approval ratings of previous presidents during their first week, Lee Jae-myung’s rating was higher than those of former Presidents Yoon Suk Yeol, which was 52.1 percent, and Park Geun-hye at 54.8 percent, but lower than those of Moon Jae-in at 81.6 percent and Lee Myung-bak at 76 percent.

By region, Gwangju and the Jeolla region had the highest approval for President Lee at 75.8 percent. Daegu and North Gyeongsang, where conservatives dominate, had the lowest at 47.7 percent, while Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang stood at 48.4 percent, showing a nearly even split between positive and negative views.

In the Seoul metropolitan area, Incheon and Gyeonggi reported 62.6 percent positive responses, while Seoul recorded 56.4 percent. By age group, those in their 40s had the highest approval at 73 percent, and those in their 20s the lowest at 42.8 percent.

President Lee Jae-myung meets employees of the Korea Exchange at its office in Yeouido, western Seoul, on June 11. [PRESIDENT LEE JAE-MYUNG'S INSTAGRAM]

Regarding expectations for Lee's performance in the future, 59.4 percent said he “will do well,” a 1.2 percentage point increase from the previous week. The percentage of respondents who said he “will not do well” was 34.9 percent, down 0.6 percentage points. Another 5.7 percent said they were unsure.

As for party support, the liberal Democratic Party (DP) recorded 49.9 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous poll and nearing a majority. Realmeter attributed this to expectations for Lee’s presidency, the promotion of livelihood policies and efforts at prosecutorial reform, rallying the party’s base.

Support for the conservative People Power Party (PPP) fell 4.4 percentage points to 30.4 percent. Realmeter noted that internal turmoil over reform proposals for the next leadership, remarks about party dissolution procedures and ongoing legal risks for former President Yoon were driving down support.

As a result, the gap in support between the DP and the PPP widened to 19.5 percentage points, up 6.3 percentage points from the previous week. Support for the splinter conservative Reform Party stood at 4.5 percent and the splinter liberal Rebuilding Korea Party at 2.9 percent, down 1.3 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively, while the progressive Jinbo Party rose slightly by 0.3 percentage points to 1.7 percent.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]