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A look at approval ratings for South Korean President Moon Jae-in for the past 20 weeks. The blue line represents support while the red dotted line represents opposition.
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Ratings for Justice Party and Liberty Korea Party stand equal for first time ever
President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating for job performance stood at 69 percent in a Gallup Korea survey for the second week of July, down two percentage points from the week before. Support for the Democratic Party was also down two percentage points from the previous week at 49 percent. The decline in President Moon’s job performance approval ratings and support for the Democratic Party has continued for four straight weeks since the third week in June. Meanwhile, support for the Justice Party stood at 10 percent, equaling support for the Liberty Korea Party (also 10 percent) for the first time ever. According to findings from a Gallup Korea survey of 1,002 adult South Koreans conducted on July 10–12, 76 percent of respondents rated President Moon’s job performance as “good,” while 21 percent rated it as “poor.” Regarding the reasons for their positive assessments, respondents cited “skill at diplomacy” (16%), “North Korea/security policies” (16%), “resuming dialogue with North Korea” (16%), “reforms, eradication of deep-rooted vices, commitment to reform” (5%), and “expanded social services and efforts for ordinary South Koreans” (5%). Reasons given for negative assessments included “failure to solve economic and livelihood issues” (45%), “North Korea relations/pro-North leanings” (9%), and “the increase in the minimum wage” (6%). Forty-nine percent of respondents expressed support for the Democratic Party, while 10 percent supported the Liberty Korea Party, 6 percent the Bareunmirae Party, 10 percent the Justice Party, and 0.3 percent the Party for Democracy and Peace. The LKP’s support rating remained stagnant at 10 percent for a third straight week. In contrast, the Justice Party’s rating rose by a percentage point from the week before, putting it even with the LKP as the party with the second-highest level of support. The Bareunmirae Party’s support rating remained unchanged from the week before. The survey has a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points with a 95-percent confidence level. Public opinion on Yemeni refugees still largely negative Another Gallup Korea survey on attitudes on the acceptance of refugee applicants from Yemen showed a majority of respondents (62%) to support “accepting only a minimum of refugees based on rigorous reviews.” Twenty percent supported “not accepting refugees and forcibly deporting them,” while 11 percent supported “accepting as many refugees as possible.” By Kim Kyu-nam, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
