Lee's approval rating recovers on trade deal, safety stance: Realmeter
The recovery, which negated more than half the reduction over the two previous weeks, followed Seoul's announcement Thursday in a reduction in new US tariffs on South Korean goods including cars from 25 percent to 15 percent in return for a $450 billion spending package to invest in the US and buy US natural liquefied gas.
The latest poll involved 2,520 people across the country aged 18 or older.
This was in line with a separate poll, also released by Realmeter Monday, that 63.9 percent of 1,016 respondents viewed the tariff deal struck between Seoul and Washington favorably. On the other hand, 32.3 percent viewed the deal unfavorably.
About 23.8 percent of the respondents viewed the cut in the US' "reciprocal" tariff to 15 percent and most-favored nation treatment for sector-specific tariffs as the biggest achievement in the latest trade deal, while 23.2 percent said it was avoiding further opening of US beef or rice to South Korean markets.
Also driving the uptrend in Lee's popularity for the final week of July were Lee's emergency response to the heat wave that gripped the country and strong stance against workplace accidents.
The upsurge was somewhat offset by the public disappointment about the proposed tax code changes, aimed mainly at stock investors, according to Realmeter. Of all respondents, 31.4 percent disapproved of Lee's job performance in the fifth week of July, down 1.6 percentage points.
Lee's approval rating has now stayed above 60 percent mark for five straight weeks, according to Realmeter's estimate.
On Friday, another analytics firm Gallup Korea's survey for the fifth week of July showed Friday similar uptrend, in which Lee's popularity climbed up 1 percentage point to 64 percent.
Meanwhile, Realmeter polls also showed Monday that the support rating for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea had surged 3.7 percentage points to 54.5 percent.
Realmeter estimated that the surge in popularity was attributable to the president's "stable management of state affairs," coupled with the "spillover effect" caused by the special counsel's probe into Lee's conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee. The main opposition People Power Party saw its support rating decline by 1.8 percentage points to 27.2 percent in the final week of July.
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