Tag: approval rating

The polling for President Moon just continues to get worse:

The approval rating for South Korean President Moon Jae-in hit a record low in a poll released just days after he issued a public apology for the resignation of a scandal-tainted minister who was a close political ally.

The support rate for Moon’s government was at 39%, according to data released Friday by Gallup Korea, which conducts regular tracking polls. The resignation of Cho Kuk — a former justice minister who resigned just five weeks after taking the job — added to Moon’s woes that include a tepid economy, a trade war with Japan, and North Korea snubbing his overtures for talks.

Bloomberg

You can read more at the link, but expect Moon to play to nationalism by promoting anti-Japanese sentiment and maybe even eventually anti-US sentiment depending on how cost sharing and North Korean denuclearization talks go.

I think at this point President Moon is not going to replace his allegedly corrupt Justice Minister no matter how low his poll numbers drop:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating has declined to 44.4 percent amid political turmoil over his justice minister, coupled with news reports of deepening economic woes and North Korea’s firing of a submarine-based ballistic missile, a local pollster said Monday.

According to Realmeter, the rating hit the lowest in its weekly survey since the president took office in May 2017. 

Commissioned by a cable news channel YTN, Realmeter conducted a phone survey of 2,007 people nationwide, aged 19 or older, throughout last week, except for the National Foundation Holiday that fell Thursday. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

40% is still high for "low approval." Most politicians would kill for such numbers. But I'm convinced that Moon's popularity is still so high only because there isn't a single politician whom voters can point to and say, "He/She is a much better choice." https://t.co/euTXcop2hF

— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) September 20, 2019

I am really not surprised at all by this decline, it was actually very predictable considering his economic and North Korea policies had little chance of ever working:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating has hit the lowest level of his presidency while his disapproval rating reached its highest point, according to a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday.

According to the weekly poll, Moon’s approval rating was 41 percent and 49 percent gave negative responses to Moon’s performance. 

Moon’s approval rating, which skyrocketed in his early months of the presidency, has now dropped to the level of the share of votes he won in the presidential election two years ago. Moon has lost additional supporters, mostly moderates, that he had attracted since he first took office.

Moon started his presidency in May 2017 with an over 80 percent approval rating and maintained strong figures throughout his first year. In May 2018, shortly after Moon’s first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his approval rating was 83 percent, according to Gallup Korea.

Joong Ang Ilbo

Keep in mind that President Moon’s approval rating dropped to 41% even though he forcibly took control of most of the major media in South Korea and has been imprisoning opposition journalists.

It seems like every week President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating continues to fall to a new low, however I don’t think it is low enough to really effect any change in his current North Korea policies yet:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating dropped to a record low last week, a poll showed Monday.

According to a survey by pollster Realmeter, 47.1 percent of the public said they approved of Moon’s performance, down 1.4 percentage points from last week. 

Amid an ongoing controversy over the alleged surveillance of civilians by Cheong Wa Dae, the approval rating fell to the lowest in three weeks, according to Realmeter. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but his approval rating continues to fall despite controlling most of the news media in South Korea and imprisoning and launching lawsuits against journalists that oppose him.

President Moon’s approval rating continues drop despite near complete control of the government, media, and the ability to silence to critics through legal action:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating dropped below 50 percent for the first time since he took office in May 2017, the latest Realmeter presidential poll showed Thursday.

Moon’s approval rating hit 48.8 percent in its ninth straight week of decline.

Analysts blamed the decline on Korea’s stagnating economy and Moon’s preoccupation with inter-Korean relations. Denuclearization talks with the North have stalled recently.

The approval rating of the ruling Democratic Party also dipped to 37.6 percent in the same Realmeter poll, 1.6 percentage points lower than the previous survey. It also declined for the past nine weeks.

In contrast, the main opposition Liberty Korea Party reached its highest popularity rating since the infamous Choi Soon-sil scandal broke out in October 2016, which led to former President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment.

The party had an approval rating of 26.2 percent in the latest poll, 3.3 percentage points higher than the previous survey and the highest since the third week of October 2016, when it was 29.6 percent.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Another week and yet another new low approval rating for President Moon:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating dropped to 52.5 percent, the lowest level since taking power in May 2017, affected by a stagnating economy with no signs of an immediate rebound and stalled talks on North Korea’s denuclearization.

In a poll by Realmeter of 1,505 adults nationwide from Monday through Wednesday, Moon’s popularity dropped 1.2 percent points to 52.5 percent in an eighth straight week of declines. The previous lowest point was 53.1 percent polled in the second week of September, right before his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.

Approval hovering just above the 50 percent mark is a stark contrast to earlier this year when they surged to around 80 percent on hopes for a breakthrough with North Korea, which contributed to a sweeping victory in local elections in June.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It seems like President Moon is in a race to get sanctions dropped, a peace treaty signed, and loads of free cash to North Korea before his approval ratings drop so low he politically cannot move forward with his agenda:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating has dropped for the seventh consecutive week.

According to a new Real Meter survey of one-thousand-500 adults nationwide conducted between Monday and Wednesday, 53-point-eight percent of respondents answered that the president is doing a good job, down one-point-six percentage points from last week.

Over 39 percent of respondents had negative assessments about Moon’s performance, up one-point-one percentage points.

Real Meter attributed the falling approval rating to public concerns about the economy fanned by news of worsening economic indicators and the government’s failing economic policies.   [KBS Global]

You can read more at the link.

President Moon needs to have his third Inter-Korean Summit hurry up and happen this month so he can get some more smiling pictures with Kim Jong-un to improve his rapidly dropping approval rating.  It dropped another six points this week because of economic woes:

A new survey finds President Moon Jae-in’s job approval rating has slipped below 50 percent for the first time.

Gallup Korea surveyed one-thousand adults nationwide, out of which 49 percent of respondents said the president is doing a good job. That’s down four percentage points from last week when the figure posted a new low.

It marked the first time for the president’s approval rating surveyed by Gallup Korea to stand in the 40 percent range.

Among those who had positive opinions about Moon’s performance, 16 percent picked improved relations with North Korea as the reason for giving a positive evaluation. Some eleven percent cited Moon’s North Korea and security policies while ten percent said they think the president gives his best and works hard.

Meanwhile, 41 percent of those who had a negative view about the president’s job cited lack of progress in addressing economic and livelihood issues as the reason for their evaluation. Some eight percent pointed at inter-Korean ties and seven percent at the minimum wage hike.   [KBS World Radio]

President Moon’s approval rating is still high, but has dropped by 23 total points since May.  The drop is largely due to the economic woes caused by the increase in the minimum wage.  If his North Korea engagement policies fail that will likely be what drops him well below 50%.  Remember President Moon was only elected President with 41% of the vote.  He has been given a lot of goodwill for his North Korea engagement by the ROK public that could quickly shift if real results don’t happen:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating continued to drop last week amid worsening economic conditions, a poll showed Monday.

Moon’s approval rating came to 55.2 percent in a survey conducted by Realmeter, down 0.8 percentage point from the week before.

The weekly survey was conducted Monday through Friday, involving 2,507 adults throughout the nation.

The reading was the third consecutive week the rating had dropped and was a record low since the president took office in May 2017.

Moon faces strong criticism for his iconic income-led growth strategy that seeks to boost the income of wage earners, which he says will lead to a rise in domestic consumption, revitalizing the whole economy.

Apparently swayed by the new government strategy, the tripartite commission on the minimum wage hiked it by 16.4 percent to 7,530 won ($6.75) per hour at the start of this year. The minimum wage is again set to jump 10.9 percent to 8,350 won per hour in 2019.

Such a steep increase, however, is believed to have forced local businesses to cut back on jobs instead.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.