Moon’s approval ratings slip below 50% for first time

South Korean President Moon Jae-in receives reports on the damage caused by Typhoon Soulik at the Blue House National Crisis Management Center on Aug. 23. (provided by the Blue House)

Experts point to rising home prices on top of discontent over job market and economic issues

President Moon Jae-in’s governance approval rating has slipped below 50 percent for the first time since he took office, a recent survey shows.

The tumble is seen as reflecting the addition of a recent controversy over rising home prices in the greater Seoul area on top of existing discontent over jobs, the minimum wage, and other livelihood and economy issues.

Results from a Sept. 4–6 survey of 1,000 adult South Koreans nationwide (margin of error ±3.1 percentage points, 95 percent confidence level) by the polling organization Gallup Korea showed 49 percent of respondents positively rating President Moon’s performance for the first week of a September.

Down four percentage points from the week before, the number was the lowest since he took office. Forty-two percentage of respondents rated his performance negatively, up four percentage points from last week. The numbers mean the difference between positive and negative ratings of President Moon’s performance has narrowed to within 10 percentage points for the first time in sixteen months in office.

Major reasons cited for negative assessments included “lack of solutions to economic/livelihood issues” (41%), “North Korea relations/pro-North Korea leanings” (8%), “the minimum wage hike” (7%), “real estate policy” (6%), and “job issues/lack of employment” (6%).

President Moon’s governance approval rating peaked as high as 83 percent during the first week of May just after the first inter-Korean summit, but began to slide after the June local elections and has been hitting record lows since August.

For now, the ruling party is pointing to the sharp rise in Seoul apartment prices as the key reason for the recent steep drop-off in support. Distrust in the administration has been growing as the overheating in the real estate market has persisted rather than abating in the wake of government countermeasures.

Results of a Gallup Korea poll regarding public approval of President Moon over the past 20 weeks. The solid line represents approval (49%) while the dotted line represents disapproval (42%). (Gallup Korea homepage)

Some have grumbled that Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon helped touch off the increase with his remarks about “integrated development of Yongsan and Yeouido” at a time when the real estate market seemed to have stabilized early this year. Meanwhile, communities outside the greater Seoul area continue to complain of stagnant real estate economies.

“We take the decline in support seriously and will analyze things closely to develop countermeasures,” a Blue House senior official said.

One opinion expert observed, “While President Moon did make achievements in terms of inter-Korean relations, they’ve been a standstill since then, and with his failure to produce the anticipated economic results a year and a half into his term, this should be seen as a case of the public asking, ‘What about changes to our own lives?’”

By Lee Kyung-mi, staff reporter

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