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Members of the public chant slogans calling on President Park Geun-hye to step down

Seven out of ten South Koreans feel President Park Geun-hye should resign or be impeached over the recent scandal surrounding government inference by her confidante Choi Sun-sil, a survey by the polling organization Real Meter showed on Nov. 17.

Opinion in favor of resignation or impeachment has risen sharply from 42.3% on Oct. 25 to 55.3% on Nov. 2, 60.4% on Nov. 9, and 73.9% in the latest poll. Park’s approval rating was also down to 9.9%, 1.6 percentage points below the previous week and the first single-digit score she has received in a Real Meter survey since she took office in February 2013.

According to the Real Meter findings, a plurality of 43.5% of respondents agreed that Park should form a transitional Cabinet and immediately resign. Another 20.2% supported holding her responsible for the Choi scandal with an impeachment, while 10.2% others said she should immediately resign and leave Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn to serve as acting President. In contrast, just 18.6% said she should finish her term, assigning only authority over Cabinet to a Prime Minister nominated by the National Assembly.

Support for formation of a transitional Cabinet and an immediate resignation ranked highest in all regions except for Daegu/North Gyeongsang Province, a traditional conservative stronghold. For the Gwangju/Jeolla Province (traditional liberal stronghold) region, 55.9% of respondents expressed support, along with 49.2% in Gyeonggi/Incheon, 43% in Busan/South Gyeongsang/Ulsan, 42.3% in Seoul, and 35.0% in Daejeon/Chungcheong/Sejong. For the Daegu/North Gyeongsang region, 29.5% of respondents favored Park staying in office and assigning Cabinet authority to a Prime Minister, while 24.9% supported a transitional Cabinet and immediate resignation.

Negative ratings of Park’s performance as President stood at 85.9%, up 2 percentage points from last week. The difference between positive and negative ratings was also the largest since Park took office, rising to 76% from 72.4% the week before.

Park faced single-digit approval ratings for nearly every region, age category, party identification, and political orientation. Even among the groups where she enjoyed double-digit approval - respondents over 60, conservatives, and ruling Saenuri Party supporters - the results showed the lowest level of positive ratings and highest of negative ratings since she took office. Only in the Daegu/North Gyeongsang area, which has been called her “political backyard,” did she experience any rise, with her approval rating climbing 4.5 percentage points to 19.8%.

Among political parties, the opposition Minjoo Party recorded a 30.5% approval rating, down 1.5 percentage points from the week before. The party held on to first place despite the decline, which was attributed to a controversy over leader Choo Mi-ae’s handling of a summit of party leaders. The heavily divided Saenuri Party’s support rating slid for a seventh straight week, tumbling 1 percentage point to 18.2%. Approval ratings were also up 1.7 percentage points to 17% for the People’s Party and 1.5 percentage points to 7.7% for the Justice Party, a rise analysts attributed mostly to their clear and consistent responses to the Choi scandal.

A total of 525 adults 19 and older nationwide were surveyed on Nov. 16 for the poll on Park’s reaction to the scandal. The margin of error was ±4.3 percentage points with a 95% confidence level. For the survey on approval of Park’s job performance and party support, a total of 1,525 adults nationwide were questioned between Nov. 14 and 16. The margin of error there was ±2.5 percentage points with a 95% confidence level.

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter

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