Moon's approval rating near record low; main opposition party's support hits new high

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating fell to a near record low, while that of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) rose to a new high after the PPP nominated a former top prosecutor as its presidential candidate, a poll showed Monday.

Moon's rating dropped to 34.2 percent, down 4.5 percentage points from a week ago, according to the survey conducted by Realmeter on 2,525 people over the age of 18 from Nov. 1-5.

In the Realmeter surveys, Moon's lowest rating of 33 percentage points was recorded in the fourth week of April this year.

In contrast, the PPP saw its approval rating rise to a record high of 46 percent, up 3.4 percent from a week earlier.

Last Friday, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl was named the presidential nominee of the PPP in the main opposition party's hotly contested nomination.

Yoon emerged as a powerful opposition hopeful during his public feuds with the Moon administration over prosecution reform and politically sensitive probes.

Bae Cheol-ho, a senior analyst at Realmeter, said the PPP's public support was buoyed by last Friday's nomination event.

With the presidential election five months away, public support for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) fell 4 percentage points to a record low of 25.9 percent.

The presidential election scheduled for March 9 is expected to be largely a competition between Yoon and Lee Jae-myung, a former Gyeonggi Gov. who was nominated as the DP's presidential candidate earlier this month.

Recent surveys have shown the upcoming presidential race may be neck-and-neck between Lee and Yoon. (Yonhap)