Credit: Office of the President.
With a full year behind, the Lee Jae-myung 이재명 administration remains popular - but a bit less so than before. At the one year mark, Lee’s approval rating in Gallup Korea 한국갤럽 was at 60%, roughly in the middle of the pack among South Korea’s nine democratically elected presidents.
Lee’s approval has been buoyed by the disastrous presidency of Yoon Suk-yeol 윤석열 that ended in a failed insurrection attempt. But with the less-than-expected result in the Local Elections 지방선거 in June, Lee’s popularity is losing steam. In this week’s Gallup Korea, Lee’s approval clocked in at 51%, the lowest of his presidency thus far.
Broken down by policy areas - economy, foreign policy, real estate, North Korea, social welfare, appointments and labor - Lee has lost ground in every area since March. Lee lost the most ground in real estate policy, going from 51% approval to 26% in the past four months, followed by economic policy that went from 58% to 43% approval.
