President Yoon's approval rating hits nine-month low

President Yoon's approval rating hit a nine-month low, dropping below 30 percent, as both parties gear up for the upcoming elections.

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a public livelihood debate on digital technologies at a startup support hub in the 2nd Pangyo Techno Valley in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 30. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating dropped below 30 percent for the first time in nine months, according to the latest poll released by Gallup Korea on Friday.

Some 29 percent of the respondents to the poll, which surveyed 1,000 people aged 18 and older between Tuesday and Thursday, approved of Yoon's handling of state affairs, a fall of two percentage points from the previous week's 31 percent.

In turn, 63 percent of respondents had a negative evaluation of the president's performance, which is the same figure as last week.

The announcement comes after the president, on Tuesday, vetoed a bill that would've formed a special committee to further investigate the deadly Itaewon disaster of 2022, which was railroaded earlier this month by the liberal Democratic Party (DP) National Assembly.

It was the fifth time Yoon, who has rejected a total of nine bills to date, has exercised his presidential veto power. The move was criticized by civic groups and families of the victims of the tragic crowd crush of Oct. 29, 2022, which claimed the lives of 159 people.

Yoon has also faced a headache over allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee received a Christian Dior handbag valued at around 3 million won ($2,240) as a gift from a Korean American pastor in September 2022, which were first reported on Nov. 29 of last year by a liberal YouTube news channel.

The controversy contributed to a moment of friction between Yoon and his longtime confidant Han Dong-hoon, interim leader of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) last month. Though the two former prosecutors showed that they had overcome their differences through public appearances together last week, the fundamental issue has yet to be resolved.

In the latest poll, 18 percent of respondents who approved of Yoon's performance cited his handling of "diplomacy," followed by nine percent "economy and people's livelihood" and 7 percent "defense and security."

Top reasons for their negative ratings included Yoon's handling of the "economy, people's livelihood and prices" at 19 percent, "poor communication" at 11 percent," his "unilateral" decision-making at seven percent, diplomacy and issues involving first lady Kim both at six percent and his repeated exercising of veto power at five percent.

Yoon has also been criticized for his lack of press conferences and communication with the public and media, despite having made a major campaign pledge to that effect, after suspending his daily morning "doorstepping" sessions with reporters in November 2022 due to a spat with public broadcaster MBC.

While he has held eight rounds of public livelihood debates in recent weeks, inviting members of the public to town hall style meetings to discuss various societal issues, Yoon has yet to hold a customary presidential New Year's press conference.

Instead, Yoon is considering holding a prerecorded interview with public broadcaster KBS, according to PPP and presidential officials, as pressure to address the first lady's luxury handbag allegations continues to mount.

KBS is reportedly considering airing the interview next Wednesday, ahead of Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 10.

Yoon's approval rating last fell below 30 percent during the second week of April 2023, when it dropped to 27 percent.

"It was a time when there were a series of diplomatic issues, such as compensation for Japan's forced labor victims in March, wiretapping of U.S. allies in April and [the president's] remarks about Ukraine and Taiwan and perceptions of Japan during interviews with foreign media," a Gallup Korea analyst said, referring to the reasons Yoon's ratings were low last April.

The lowest approval rating for Yoon to date was 24 percent in the first week of August 2022, some three months after he took office.

Yoon's job approval rating peaked at 53 percent, per Gallup Korea, and his highest negative rating was 66 percent.

Han Dong-hoon, right, interim leader of the People Power Party, shakes hands with Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Dec. 29, 2023. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

With just over two months left until the April 10 general elections, political parties have been gearing up for campaign mode with both major liberal and conservative parties seeing defectors and splinter parties forming in recent weeks.

Approval ratings for the majority DP held steady at 35 percent in the latest Gallup polls, the same as the previous week. The PPP received an approval rating of 34 percent, a drop of two percentage points from last week.

The new conservative and liberal splinter parties were included in the Gallup survey for the first time.

Former PPP leader Lee Jun-seok's New Reform Party and former DP leader Lee Nak-yon's Future Reform Party each recorded an approval rating of three percent.

Minor parties including the Justice Party, Basic Income Party and Progressive Party each received one percent.

The proportion of independents was 21 percent, a slight decrease from 22 percent in last week's polls.

"Changes in party loyalty since June of last year mainly come from moderates, and based on evaluations of the president's performance and public opinions on various issues, their beliefs fell closer to the majority party [than to the PPP]," Gallup Korea said regarding the shift.

On preferred future political leaders, DP leader Lee Jae-myung came in at 26 percent, PPP interim leader Han at 23 percent and former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon and New Reform Party chief Lee Jun-seok each at 4 percent. Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon tailed at two percent each, and Gyeonggi Gov. Kim Dong-yeon one percent.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at 95 percent confidence.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]