President Lee Jae Myung's Approval Rating Hits Record Low

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since he took office in June of last year, according to a poll released Monday. The survey, conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by the EKN newspaper, shows that positive assessments of Lee's performance dropped 0.4 percentage points from the previous week to 45.9 percent, marking a decline for the third consecutive week. Negative assessments rose 1 percentage point to 50.5 percent, surpassing the 50 percent threshold for the first time.

The pollster attributed the decline to several factors. These include sharp declines in the stock market and volatility related to single stock leveraged exchange traded funds. Additionally, the poll cited controversy surrounding a possible constitutional amendment that would allow a president to seek reelection. This issue was triggered by remarks from National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik, who suggested that the people should decide whether to revise the Constitution to permit an incumbent president to seek another term.

The weekly survey included 2,508 people aged 18 and older and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. In a separate survey of 1,002 individuals, support for the ruling Democratic Party rose 3.8 percentage points to 45.1 percent, while support for the main opposition People Power Party fell 2.9 percentage points to 37.7 percent. That survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.