President Moon’s approval rating drops below 60% for first time since inauguration

Posted on : 2018-01-27 20:25 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Support has slipped due to the controversy over the unified Korean women’s hockey team and the government’s response to virtual currency markets
President Moon Jae-in‘s approval rating
President Moon Jae-in‘s approval rating

President Moon Jae-in’s governance approval rating has dipped below 60% for the first time since he took office, a recent opinion poll shows. The Blue House and ruling Democratic Party plan to analyze the factors behind the recent slide in support and work on improvement communication and other measures to address it.

On Jan. 22–24, Real Meter surveyed Moon’s approval rating among 1,509 adult South Korean men and women nationwide (±2.5 percentage point margin of error with a 95% confidence level). The results showed 59.8% of respondents rating Moon’s governance performance as “good,” the polling outfit reported on Jan. 25. The number was down 6.2 percentage points from 66% the week before – indicating a steep slide. It was also down 10.8% from two weeks prior. A Jan. 19 Gallup Korea survey for the third week of January also Moon’s approval rating at 67%, a six percentage point drop from the week before.

“We humbly accept [these findings], and it will be a good opportunity if we work to improve our policies to win trust,” a senior Blue House official said.

The Blue House and Democratic Party concluded the approval rating slump was affected in no small part by the recent controversy over the unified inter-Korean women’s hockey team at the Pyeongchang Olympics, which has proven a sensitive issue with younger people.

“We thought the public would understand and support the forming of a unified team, but there turned out to be major differences with the views of the ‘2030 generation’ [young people in their twenties and thirties],” a Blue House source admitted. “We failed to gauge their feelings accurately.”

A Seoul-area Democratic Party lawmaker said, “While the Moon Jae-in administration has prioritized fairness and communication, young people watching the way the unified team has been handled seem to have come away feeling like these older men are lecturing them on the importance of ‘individual sacrifice for the greater good.’”

Hankook Research survey findings released the same day by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation showed 58.7% of respondents opposing the formation of a unified women’s hockey team, or 21 percentage points more than the 37.7% who supported it.

The political onslaught from the Liberty Korea Party, which has criticized the so-called “Pyongyang Olympics,” also seems to have played a part.

“Conservatives seem to have been unsettled by the rapid developments in interchange with North Korea,” a said the official.

Another factor in the reversal of Moon’s high public approval ratings appears to be confusion in the handling of policy measures, including regulations on virtual currency and a ban on English education for young children. The confused response became apparent when Justice Minister Park Sang-ki’s mention of the possibility of shutting down virtual currency exchanges led the Blue House to immediately backtrack on the announcement as “not set in stone.”

“The backlash to the virtual currency confusion seems to be greater because younger people don’t see many avenues for increasing their income levels,” said Kim Young-jin, who heads the Democratic Party’s strategy and planning committee.

Some in the ruling party are fretting over the possible impact Moon’s loss of support might have on the June 13 local elections.

“It’s unsettling. We need to start pulling ourselves together,” said one ruling party source.

The Blue plans to work on stronger communication and policy scrutiny. In response to concerns related to the minimum wage being increased, Blue House Policy Chief of Staff Jang Ha-sung and other members of a minimum wage task force have staged meetings for several days running, stressing the importance of “hearing the public out” by visiting people on the ground.

“We are taking the slide in support seriously, but we don’t see this as a total loss or withdrawal of support,” a Blue House source said.

“In the process of formulating and executing policies, we’ve learned that we need to tend a bit more carefully to the fairness and communication aspects,” the source added.

By Seong Yeon-cheol and Hong So-jin, staff reporters

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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