Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung's public approval rating dropped slightly to 64 percent, while support for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) hit a record low, a poll showed Thursday. In a National Barometer Survey conducted from Monday to Wednesday, the positive assessment of Lee's performance fell 1 percentage point from the previous poll conducted two weeks ago, while the negative assessment also fell 1 percentage point to 22 percent.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the approval rating for the PPP hit a record low at 17 percent, down 2 percentage points from the previous survey. Support for the ruling Democratic Party dropped 2 percentage points to 43 percent. In the same survey, 39 percent viewed unification with North Korea as absolutely necessary, while 57 percent considered it acceptable to continue living in the current state without unification.
As for favorability toward other countries, the United States ranked highest at 62 percent, followed by Japan at 45 percent, China at 26 percent, North Korea at 20 percent, and Russia at 17 percent. On the transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) of the United States to South Korea, 54 percent expressed support, while 32 percent were opposed.
The survey was conducted by pollsters Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research on 1,001 people aged 18 and older. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.