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Lee's approval ratings up for the first time in several weeks

Published: 06 Oct. 2025, 11:39

President Lee Jae Myung, left, and first lady Kim Hea Kyung offer Chuseok holiday greetings in a video released on Oct. 4. [YONHAP]

President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating has rebounded to 53.5 percent, marking a rise after several weeks of decline, according to a Realmeter poll released Monday.

The survey was conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 among 2,017 voters nationwide aged 18 and older. The results showed a 1.5 percentage-point increase from the previous week. Lee’s approval had fallen for three consecutive weeks after reaching 56 percent in the first week of September.

His disapproval rating for the poll stood at 43.3 percent, down 0.8 percentage points from the previous week.

Realmeter said the improvement was likely driven by recent diplomatic and economic developments, including the Korea-Japan summit, the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with OpenAI and strong economic indicators such as the Kospi surpassing 3,500 points and rising exports. Efforts to stabilize prices and improve senior employment were also cited as positive factors.

A separate Realmeter poll conducted Oct. 1—2 among 1,008 adults showed the ruling Democratic Party holding 47.2 percent support, up 3.9 percentage points from the week before. The opposition People Power Party’s support fell 2.4 percentage points to 35.9 percent.

The gap between the two major parties widened to 11.3 percentage points — beyond the margin of error — from 5.0 points the previous week.

Support for the Cho Kuk Innovation Party stood at 3.3 percent, the Reform Party at 2.8 percent, and the Progressive Party at 1.0 percent.

The presidential approval poll had a margin of error of ±2.2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, while the party support poll had a margin of ±3.1 points. Both were conducted via automated telephone response on mobile phones. Full details are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission’s website.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]