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President's approval drops to 56% on tax plans, lawmaker's trading

Published: 11 Aug. 2025, 14:26 Updated: 11 Aug. 2025, 18:06

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Aug. 1. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating dropped to 56.5 percent, the lowest since he took office, according to a poll released Monday.

A Realmeter survey conducted from last Monday to Friday on 2,506 voters aged 18 and older nationwide, found that 56.5 percent of respondents gave a positive assessment of Lee’s job performance. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

The approval rating was down 6.8 percentage points from the previous week, the sharpest decline since Lee took office. Disapproval rose by the same margin to 38.2 percent, while 5.2 percent said they did not know.

“Stock capital gains tax controversies and suspicions of Rep. Lee Choon-suak’s stock trading under borrowed names early last week fueled public distrust,” said Realmeter.

“Actions such as Democratic Party [DP] leader Jung Chung-rae’s sidelining of the People Power Party [PPP] in the political standoff alienated conservative and moderate voters — and later in the week, the controversy over Liberation Day pardons for Cho Kuk and Yoon Mee-hyang further deepened the decline.”

A separate Realmeter survey conducted from Thursday to Friday on 1,006 voters found the DP's approval rating at 48.4 percent and the PPP's at 30.3 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The DP’s support fell 6.1 percentage points from the previous week, dropping below 50 percent for the first time in seven weeks, while the PPP rose 3.1 percentage points, returning to the 30-percent range for the first time in six weeks.

“The DP’s decline was driven by internal ethics scandals and hard-line political moves, while the PPP benefited from both the DP’s troubles and growing interest in its leadership race,” said Realmeter.

Support for the Rebuilding Korea Party stood at 4 percent, the Reform Party at 3.1 percent, the Jinbo Party at 1.4 percent, with nonaffiliated voters at 8.4 percent.

Both polls were conducted via automated telephone interviews on mobile phones. The presidential approval poll had a response rate of 5.2 percent, and the party support poll had a response rate of 4.5 percent. Full results are available on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom staff.
BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [[email protected]]