President Lee's Approval Rating Falls Below 50% for First Time

President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating has been on a downward trend since the June 3 local elections.

A poll released on June 24 revealed that negative evaluations of the president's performance have surpassed positive ones, marking a 'dead cross' in approval ratings.

The Korea Social Opinion Institute (KSOI) conducted a survey from June 22 to 23, polling 1,005 adults aged 18 and older via 100% automated response (ARS) method. The results showed that 47.7% of respondents approved of President Lee's governance, while 48.2% disapproved, with 4.1% unsure.

This is the first instance of a dead cross phenomenon appearing in KSOI's survey, following a similar finding by Gallup Korea.

President Lee's approval rating dropped by 2.7 percentage points from the previous survey conducted on June 8-9, while disapproval ratings increased by 2.5 percentage points.

KSOI analysts attributed the sharp decline in approval ratings post-election to a combination of factors, including the impact of the election results, accountability for the Central Election Management Commission's ballot shortage, and ongoing controversies surrounding the prosecution's supplementary investigation rights.

In party support, the Democratic Party saw a 1 percentage point increase to 39.6%, while the People Power Party fell by 0.8 percentage points to 37.3%. The gap between the two parties stands at 2.3 percentage points.

Following these parties, the Reform Party received 2.7%, the Progressive Party 1.9%, and the Justice Party 1.6%. Additionally, 14.0% of respondents indicated they had no party affiliation.

Amid escalating conflicts within the ruling party over the retention of supplementary investigation rights, 47.7% of respondents supported granting these rights to prosecutors in the new Public Prosecution Office, which will be established after the abolition of the current prosecution system. Meanwhile, 31.3% believed that supplementary investigation rights should be abolished for judicial reform, and 21.0% were unsure.

The survey utilized wireless virtual numbers provided by the three major telecommunications companies and had a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, with a response rate of 5.6%. For more details, please refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission's website.