Lee’s approval rating rises for 2nd week after APEC: poll
President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating rose for a second consecutive week to 56.7 percent following the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held Oct. 31-Nov. 1, according to a survey released Monday.
The poll, conducted by local pollster Realmeter from Nov. 3-7, showed Lee’s rating climbed 3.7 percentage points to 56.7 percent. The survey was conducted among 2,528 respondents aged 18 and older nationwide. Negative assessments of Lee stood at 38.7 percent, down 4.6 percentage points from the previous week.
Realmeter attributed the rise in Lee’s approval to “growing optimism over diplomacy and the economy, driven by his achievements at the APEC meetings, the Kospi stock index surpassing the 4,200 mark, and his policy address on next year’s budget.”
The sharpest gains came in Busan — the arrival point for global leaders attending the APEC events — and in neighboring Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province. All three, traditionally conservative strongholds, saw his approval jump 13.5 points to 54.8 percent.
Other regions also showed improvement. Support in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province reached 59.9 percent, up 6.4 points, while Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces rose 5.7 points to 77.6 percent. Seoul also recorded a 4 point increase to 53.8 percent.
However, approval in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, which includes the APEC summit's host city of Gyeongju, declined 8.3 points to 38.4 percent, and in Daejeon, Sejong and the Chungcheong provinces, it dropped 7 points to 52.5 percent.
A similar trend appeared in party support. In a separate Realmeter survey conducted Nov. 6-7 among 1,004 respondents, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea garnered 46.5 percent support, up 1.1 points, while the main opposition People Power Party fell 3.1 points to 34.8 percent.
More details are available on the National Election Commission’s website at www.nec.go.kr.
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