Lee's approval rating at 48.8%; majority oppose abolishing prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers

President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a meeting on regional, essential and public healthcare held at Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

A poll released Wednesday put President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating at 48.8%, while majorities opposed two key policy initiatives backed by the government and the Democratic Party of Korea — the complete abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers and the merger of the military academies — each drawing opposition above 50%.

The Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) surveyed 1,000 adults aged 18 and older nationwide on Monday and Tuesday, finding that 48.8% gave Lee a positive assessment of his job performance. The figure fell 5.9 percentage points from the previous week's survey, dropping below the 50 percent mark.

Lee's positive rating has hovered around 50 percent since the second week of June. It stood at 50.4 percent in the second week of June, fell to 48.2 percent in the fourth week of June, then rose to 54.7 percent in the second week of July.

His negative rating rose 5.8 percentage points from the previous survey to 46.7 percent, while 4.5 percent said they were unsure. KSOI said the gap between positive and negative assessments, which had been 13.8 percentage points in the previous survey, narrowed to 2.1 percentage points — bringing the two sides within the margin of error.

[Provided by Korea Society Opinion Institute]

Party support ratings also showed a narrowing gap between the Democratic Party of Korea and the People Power Party compared with the previous survey. The Democratic Party's support fell 2.1 percentage points to 42.9 percent from 45.0 percent, while the People Power Party's rose 1.5 percentage points to 30.6 percent from 29.1 percent. The Reform Party followed at 3.3 percent, the Rebuilding Korea Party at 1.9 percent and the Progressive Party at 1.2 percent. Those with no party affiliation accounted for 16.4 percent.

KSOI said the key question for the Democratic Party's future support would be whether its upcoming party convention can serve as a platform for internal unity and a clear governing vision. For the People Power Party, it said managing internal tensions — including the controversy over former party leader Han Dong-hoon's potential return — would be a major variable.

Opposition to the complete abolition of prosecutors' supplementary investigative powers strengthened in the latest survey. Those opposed stood at 55.3 percent, outpacing the 27.4 percent in favor by 27.9 percentage points. The opposition figure was up 7.6 percentage points from 47.7 percent recorded in the fourth week of June, while support fell 3.9 percentage points from 31.3 percent over the same period.

On the proposed merger of the army, navy and air force academies and the establishment of a unified Korea Armed Forces Academy in Daejeon's Jaun military complex, 50.6 percent were opposed — 17.8 percentage points higher than the 32.6 percent in favor. Those who said they were unsure accounted for 16.6 percent.

Among respondents who gave Lee a positive job performance rating, 57.0 percent supported the creation of the unified armed forces academy and 21.0 percent opposed it. Among those who rated his performance negatively, 9.4 percent supported the plan and 82.6 percent opposed it.

KSOI said the findings suggest that views on the academy merger are being shaped not merely as a defense reform question but as a political judgment on the current government's overall approach to military reform.

The survey was conducted using an automated response system via virtual wireless numbers provided by the three major telecommunications carriers. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level, with a response rate of 5.4 percent. Further details are available on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

addressh@heraldcorp.com