President Lee Jae Myung delivers a congratulatory address at a national forum on advanced industry development in the Yeongnam region, held in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, on Thursday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung delivers a congratulatory address at a national forum on advanced industry development in the Yeongnam region, held in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, on Thursday. [Yonhap]

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating stopped its seven-week decline and ticked upward, according to a poll released Sunday.

The survey, conducted by Realmeter on behalf of Energy Economy News from June 29 to July 3 among 2,525 adults aged 18 and older nationwide, put positive assessments of Lee's job performance at 47.0 percent — up 0.5 percentage points from the previous week.

Negative assessments fell 0.3 percentage points to 49.2 percent, while 2.2 percent of respondents said they did not know.

Realmeter attributed the modest rebound to the government's announcement of three major regional investment projects — in the southwestern, Chungcheong and Yeongnam regions — calling them a positive signal for the president's ratings. The pollster added that gains were limited, as economic headwinds including a sharp stock market decline and a high exchange rate continued to weigh on public sentiment.

A separate party approval survey conducted July 2 and 3 among 1,008 adults aged 18 and older nationwide showed the Democratic Party of Korea at 43.0 percent and the People Power Party at 40.3 percent.

The Democratic Party rose 2.0 percentage points from the previous survey, while the People Power Party fell 1.7 percentage points.

The Reform Party stood at 3.0 percent, the Rebuilding Korea Party at 1.9 percent and the Progressive Party at 1.6 percent. Those with no party affiliation accounted for 6.5 percent.

Both surveys were conducted via automated response calls to mobile phones.

The presidential job approval survey carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.0 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 4.0 percent. The party approval survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 2.8 percent. Further details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.


sunpine@heraldcorp.com