South Korean President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee at the BEXCO Convention and Exhibition Center in Busan, South Korea, 19 July 2026. Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / EPA
July 20 (Asia Today) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating fell for the first time in three weeks to 48.4%, a poll released Monday showed.
The survey by Realmeter found that Lee’s positive job-performance rating declined 0.5 percentage point from the previous week.
His negative rating rose 0.3 percentage point to 48.0%, leaving a 0.4-point gap between the positive and negative assessments. The difference was within the poll’s margin of error.
Lee’s daily approval rating rose above 50% in the middle of the week, reaching 50.6% Tuesday and 51.0% Wednesday. It then dropped to 46.3% Thursday.
Realmeter attributed the weekly decline to economic concerns, including an interest rate increase and a sharp stock market downturn. The polling organization also cited disputes within the governing bloc over prosecutors’ authority to request supplementary investigations.
The organization said comments by writer and political commentator Rhyu Si-min criticizing Lee’s redevelopment policy may also have contributed to declining support among voters in their 40s and self-identified progressives.
The presidential survey was conducted Monday through Thursday among 2,007 voters age 18 and older across South Korea.
A separate Realmeter survey showed that the gap between the governing Democratic Party and the main opposition People Power Party had narrowed to within the margin of error.
Support for the Democratic Party fell 1.7 percentage points to 43.1%, while support for the People Power Party increased 1.9 points to 40.0%.
The 3.1-point gap between the parties was within that survey’s margin of error.
Realmeter said the Democratic Party’s decline may have been influenced by factional disagreements over the proposed introduction of preferential voting ahead of the party convention and internal divisions over abolishing prosecutors’ authority to conduct supplementary investigations.
The party survey was conducted Wednesday and Thursday among 1,005 voters age 18 and older.
Both surveys used automated telephone responses with randomly generated wireless numbers.
The presidential survey had a response rate of 4.0% and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
The party survey had a response rate of 4.1% and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260720010006784
