Tag: approval rating

President Moon needs to have his third Inter-Korean Summit hurry up and happen this month so he can get some more smiling pictures with Kim Jong-un to improve his rapidly dropping approval rating.  It dropped another six points this week because of economic woes:

A new survey finds President Moon Jae-in’s job approval rating has slipped below 50 percent for the first time.

Gallup Korea surveyed one-thousand adults nationwide, out of which 49 percent of respondents said the president is doing a good job. That’s down four percentage points from last week when the figure posted a new low.

It marked the first time for the president’s approval rating surveyed by Gallup Korea to stand in the 40 percent range.

Among those who had positive opinions about Moon’s performance, 16 percent picked improved relations with North Korea as the reason for giving a positive evaluation. Some eleven percent cited Moon’s North Korea and security policies while ten percent said they think the president gives his best and works hard.

Meanwhile, 41 percent of those who had a negative view about the president’s job cited lack of progress in addressing economic and livelihood issues as the reason for their evaluation. Some eight percent pointed at inter-Korean ties and seven percent at the minimum wage hike.   [KBS World Radio]

President Moon’s approval rating is still high, but has dropped by 23 total points since May.  The drop is largely due to the economic woes caused by the increase in the minimum wage.  If his North Korea engagement policies fail that will likely be what drops him well below 50%.  Remember President Moon was only elected President with 41% of the vote.  He has been given a lot of goodwill for his North Korea engagement by the ROK public that could quickly shift if real results don’t happen:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating continued to drop last week amid worsening economic conditions, a poll showed Monday.

Moon’s approval rating came to 55.2 percent in a survey conducted by Realmeter, down 0.8 percentage point from the week before.

The weekly survey was conducted Monday through Friday, involving 2,507 adults throughout the nation.

The reading was the third consecutive week the rating had dropped and was a record low since the president took office in May 2017.

Moon faces strong criticism for his iconic income-led growth strategy that seeks to boost the income of wage earners, which he says will lead to a rise in domestic consumption, revitalizing the whole economy.

Apparently swayed by the new government strategy, the tripartite commission on the minimum wage hiked it by 16.4 percent to 7,530 won ($6.75) per hour at the start of this year. The minimum wage is again set to jump 10.9 percent to 8,350 won per hour in 2019.

Such a steep increase, however, is believed to have forced local businesses to cut back on jobs instead.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.