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Lee's approval rating falls to 65% after reaching highest level: Poll

Published: 27 Mar. 2026, 16:28

President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a meeting with senior military commanders at the Ministry of National Defense's office in Seoul on March 27. [YONHAP]

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating fell to 65 percent after reaching its highest level for three consecutive weeks, a poll showed on Friday.

The survey by Gallup Korea, conducted Tuesday through Thursday on 1,000 respondents aged 18 and over, showed that the positive assessment of Lee's overall performance fell by 2 percentage points from the previous week.

The negative assessment stood at 24 percent, while 10 percent of participants were undecided.

Lee's handling of the economy and people's livelihoods was cited most frequently as the reason for positive evaluation at 17 percent, followed by overall performance at 10 percent and diplomacy and his real estate policies at 8 percent each.

Among the negative responses, 17 percent pointed to concerns over the economy and the high exchange rate.

The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party remained unchanged at 46 percent, and that of the main opposition People Power Party fell 1 percentage point to 19 percent, marking the first time it has fallen below the 20 percent mark in eight months.

In the same survey, 54 percent of the respondents replied that the government was handling the Middle East crisis well, while 19 percent said it was doing poorly.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Yonhap