hankyoreh

President Yoon Suk-yeol makes his way to a ceremony to receive the credentials of foreign envoys in Seoul at his presidential office in Seoul’s Yongsan District on July 29. (Yonhap News)

The results of an opinion poll released Monday indicate that President Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval rating has slumped to the 20% range.

Commissioned by TBS, the Korea Society Opinion Institute surveyed 1,003 adults across the nation from Friday to Saturday, 28.9% of whom responded that they approved of Yoon’s performance as president.

The survey had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Yoon’s approval rating dropped by 3.3 percentage points from the week before. Meanwhile, his disapproval rating increased by 4.0 percentage points from the week prior, coming out at 68.5%.

A plot of trends in President Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval and disapproval ratings as polled by KSOI. Figures in blue indicate positive assessments of the president’s job, while figures in red indicate negative assessments.

A Gallup Korea opinion poll whose results were released on Friday was the first survey in which Yoon recorded an approval rating below 30%.

A Realmeter survey whose results came out on Monday indicated an approval rating in the low 30% range for Yoon, although the figure dropped to the 20% range at the tail end of the survey period when calculated on a daily basis.

The survey, commissioned by Media Tribune and conducted by Realmeter, asked 2,519 adults across the country how much they supported Yoon’s performance as president from July 25 to Friday. The results indicated that Yoon’s approval rating remained at a standstill in the 30% range for three consecutive weeks, recording 33.1% — a drop of 0.2 percentage points from the week before. Meanwhile, Yoon’s disapproval rating increased by 1.1 percentage points compared to the figure from the previous week, coming out at 64.5%.

The survey had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.0 points.

But, when calculated on a daily basis, Yoon’s approval rating continued to drop after recording 38.3% on July 26, plunging to 28.7% by Friday, the last day of the survey. This was the first time Yoon’s approval rating fell below 30% in the same survey.

By Shim Wu-sam, staff reporter

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