President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating slightly rebounded to 54.9 percent last week, according to a survey. The poll comes as the nation marks one year since former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law bid, with Lee's democracy-focused messages credited for the boost. However, the upward trend weakened toward the week's end.
A survey by Realmeter, commissioned by a local news outlet, showed that 54.9 percent of respondents gave a positive assessment of President Lee Jae-myung's overall performance last week, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week.
Negative assessments rose 1.4 percentage points to 42.1 percent. The pollster attributed the slight rebound to Lee's messages on democracy, highlighted in his special national address marking the first anniversary of the martial law imposition, and his push to designate December 3 as a day for people's sovereignty.
The upward trend weakened toward the end of the week amid negative sentiment over a court's dismissal of an arrest warrant for Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), among other issues.
The survey was conducted on 2,520 adults from Monday to Friday last week and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
In a separate survey by the same pollster on 1,008 individuals aged 18 and over on Thursday and Friday, support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea fell 1.4 percentage points to 44.2 percent. Support for the PPP also declined 0.4 percentage point to 37 percent. This poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
These results reflect public evaluations of the Lee administration's first year, particularly in terms of political stability and democratic recovery.