Lee's approval rating falls for second consecutive week: Poll

President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating dropped to 46.3 percent this week, marking its second straight weekly decline, a poll showed on Monday.

In the poll conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by the EKN newspaper, the positive assessment of Lee’s job performance fell 2.1 percentage points from a week before while his negative assessment rose 1.5 percentage points to 49.5 percent.

Realmeter attributed the decline to a controversy surrounding the sale of his apartment, his remarks suggesting higher property holding taxes and a sharp drop in the stock market.

The president recently faced backlash after records showed that the buyers of his apartment in Seongnam, southern Seoul, paid only part of the purchase price upfront, with him and his wife effectively loaning the unpaid portion to the buyers until the balance is paid.

He also hinted at the possibility of raising property holding taxes to help stabilize runaway housing prices at a public discussion on real estate policy last week, insisting that there was broad consensus.

The weekly survey, conducted on 2,505 people aged 18 and older from July 20 to Friday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster, support for the ruling Democratic Party fell 1.8 percentage points from a week earlier to 41.3 percent. Support for the main opposition People Power Party rose 0.6 percentage point to 40.6 percent.

The poll, conducted on 1,001 individuals aged 18 and older on Thursday and Friday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Yonhap