Graphic by Cho Sang Won
President shrugs off concerns while ruling party worries about fallout
By Kang Hyun-kyung, Lee Yeon-woo
President Yoon's declining approval ratings have raised a red flag as they have reached the point where public disapproval of his performance in the nation's top job is actually higher than public approval of it.
The latest poll conducted by RnSearch on 1,028 adults from July 2 to 4 showed that 53 percent of the respondents think President Yoon is not doing a good job, whereas 42.6 percent felt that he was.
The weekly survey shows that the approval rating for Yoon's performance as the head of state has continued to decline since early last month. His job approval rating was once at 52.5 percent but fell to 45.3 percent last week. This week's rating was even lower than that of the previous week.
Yoon's approval rating is in a downward spiral, which is also evident from Gallup's weekly opinion survey findings. In its latest survey, taken between June 28 and 30, of 1,000 adults nationwide, the percentage of those who said they approve of the way Yoon is handling his job as the president is almost the same as the percentage of those who disapprove. Those who have a positive view of Yoon's performance stood at 43 percent, whereas those who have a negative view of his performance were at 42 percent. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
In the survey from the first week of June, those who answered positively about Yoon's performance stood at 53 percent, 10 percent higher than when the survey was conducted most recently during the last week of June.
Kim Hyeong-joon, a professor of political science at Myeongji University, said Yoon's relatively low approval ratings are similar to those of former President Lee Myung-bak early in his term in 2008.
"About 100 days after Lee was inaugurated as president, there were massive rallies against the government's decision to resume imports of American beef. And at that time, Lee's approval ratings hit rock-bottom, with the lowest rating recorded at just 25 percent," said Kim.
"Now, President Yoon is in office and only 50 days have passed since his inauguration. It is the first time that a president who has been in office for only 50 days finds that the public's disapproval of his job performance is higher than their approval of him," he continued.
President Yoon Suk-yeol is greeted by an honor guard at Gyeryongdae military headquarters in South Chungcheong Province, Wednesday, to attend a meeting with the commanders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Yonhap
Kim said there are roughly three reasons that could explain why Yoon's approval ratings continue to fall.
First and foremost, he said, people's expectations of the new administration have fallen as time has passed. "I think the interest rate hike is a decisive factor that pulled his ratings down," Kim said. "There are many who borrowed money from banks to purchase their own apartments and now they find it tougher to pay the loans back because interest rates are on the rise, while housing prices are declining. Feeling the pressure, these people no longer have high expectations of the new government and some of them are turning their backs on the new president."
Kim also said that the way President Yoon reacts to certain issues raises questions.
"He looks down-to-earth, but sometimes he is seen as very arrogant and old-fashioned. Some of the remarks that he has made to reporters who were doorstepping him makes people feel that he is very hierarchical," the political science professor said.
Yoon's falling rates have become a source of concern for the ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP), as the party's ratings too have gone down. Support for the PPP stood at 45 percent in the first week of June, but the rate had declined to 40 percent by the last week of June, according to Gallup.
Rep. Kweon Seon-dong, the PPP's floor leader, highlighted the public's high cost of living ― which has been worsening due to the insecurity of global supply chains following Russia's invasion of Ukraine ― and power struggles inside the ruling party, as two key reasons that have contributed to President Yoon's tumbling approval ratings.
"The president's job approval rating is an important indicator, albeit, it may not be an absolute factor," Rep. Kweon said on a KBS radio show on Wednesday. "Unless people's livelihoods improve or getting better, or the infighting inside the ruling party is resolved, we'll find it difficult to see a rebound in the president's approval ratings … Solid approval ratings are an engine for a president's confident management of state affairs, and, in this sense, approval ratings matter."
President Yoon shrugged off the poor ratings. When asked to comment on his falling approval rate on Monday, Yoon told reporters that he didn't care much about it.
"I didn't care about approval ratings even when I ran in the presidential election, because ratings are ratings and they are meaningless," Yoon said. "What I am doing is only to focus on the people and think about what I can do for them. My only focus is placed on the people and I keep trying to work hard for them. That's it."
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea criticized the president for his remarks that he didn't care about the approval rating. Ranking DPK lawmakers said that President Yoon was ignoring a warning from the public.
Ruling party floor leader Rep. Kweon encouraged the public to read between the lines. "You shouldn't take what he said literally. I think what he meant by his remarks is that he doesn't care much about it, which really means that he will wait and see how it turns out, rather than him turning a blind eye to the survey results," he said in another radio show on Tuesday.
