A public opinion poll found that Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, who returned to work due to the court’s decision to suspend the disciplinary enforcement, outperformed the ruling party candidates in the next presidential candidate’s preference survey. The Democratic Party, along with President Moon Jae-in, who faced headwinds while trying to discipline Yun, recorded the lowest approval rating ever since the inauguration of the current government.
Although President Moon is attempting to break through the politics by reopening it at the beginning of the year, the trend of public sentiment against passports and lame ducks has not waned.
On the 28th, as a result of a survey by Real Meter on the preferences of the next presidential candidate, Yoon recorded 23.9%, ranking first. This is a 4.1 percentage point increase from the previous survey.
President Yoon’s approval rating has risen across all age groups, mainly in his 30s and 40s. The approval ratings in their 20s, including 18 and 19 years old, were 15.3%, 30s 26.7%, 40s 22.5%, and 50s 27.1%, respectively. By region, Daegu and Gyeongbuk were the highest at 28.3%. Following this, it surpassed 20% in most regions, including 26.4% in Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam, 25.1% in Seoul, 25.0% in Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong, 23.7% in Incheon and Gyeonggi, and 14.5% in Gwangju and Jeolla.
Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon and Gyeonggi-do Governor Lee Jae-myeong recorded 18.2 percent, and tied for second place. The gap in approval ratings between these passport candidates and President Yoon was 5.7 percentage points, widening beyond the margin of error. In particular, CEO Lee’s approval rating declined for eight consecutive months, and the 20% line collapsed after one year and seven months based on the real meter survey.
The positive evaluation of President Moon’s performance of state administration was also counted to 36.7%, down 2.8 percentage points from the previous week. This is the same number as the second week of December (36.7%), the lowest level since the inauguration of the current government.
According to Realmeter, the poll reflects the impact of the first trial decision on the 23rd, when the spouse of former Justice Minister Cho Kook-shim, professor of Dongyang University, was sentenced to four years in prison.
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