President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating has fallen sharply following the June 3 local elections, according to poll results released Tuesday. Lee bowed his head, saying, "I'm sorry to the people," and pledged to "embrace more broadly and work harder."
In Belgium, the first stop on his European tour, Lee shared the related poll article directly through X (formerly Twitter), saying, "I humbly accept the people's sober assessment." He added, "I will listen to the people's voices with a humbler attitude."
The survey Lee shared was conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) on 1,002 people aged 18 and over nationwide on the 8th and 9th of this month. The poll found that positive assessments of Lee's handling of state affairs stood at 50.4%, down 9.4 percentage points from the previous survey (fourth week of May). Negative assessments, by contrast, rose 10.5 percentage points to 45.7%. It marked the first time since Lee took office that the gap between positive and negative assessments in the survey has narrowed to within the margin of error.
A similar trend appeared in a survey by Zogby C&I. In a survey of 2,000 men and women aged 18 and over nationwide from the 6th to the 8th, Lee's approval rating stood at 50.6%, down 13.3 percentage points from the previous survey. Negative assessments rose 12.5 percentage points to 45.5%.
Changes were also detected in party approval ratings. In the Zogby C&I survey, the People Power Party recorded 41.6% and the Democratic Party 40.4%, marking the first time the ruling and opposition party ratings have reversed since the "December 3 emergency martial law incident." In the KSOI survey, the gap between the Democratic Party (38.6%) and the People Power Party (38.1%) was just 0.5 percentage points.
Political circles view the local elections as having created cracks in the Democratic Party's dominant structure, which in turn affected the president's approval rating. KSOI analyzed that "although the ruling party won the local elections, the results fell short of expectations in key battlegrounds such as the Seoul mayoral election."
Lee appears to be moving to strengthen his focus on people's livelihoods while working to restore public sentiment. On Tuesday, he publicly presented a plan to expand rural basic income through social network services (SNS).
"Rural basic income was introduced for a limited two years, but wouldn't it be far more effective to implement it permanently and raise the amount?" Lee asked, soliciting public opinion. He added, "It can help ease the surge in housing prices caused by concentration in the metropolitan area and guarantee a happy old age," emphasizing its effects on balanced national development and countering regional extinction.
Rural basic income, currently being piloted in 10 regions, pays 150,000 won per month in the form of local currency. Lee signaled his position that measures should be considered to make this permanent and expand the payment amount. As a funding source, he mentioned the possible use of the rural special tax, revenues from which have increased amid the recent stock market boom.
