Park’s approval ratings in free fall amid scandal

President Park Geun-hye’s approval ratings continue to plunge in the face of a scandal involving her longtime confidante, the latest poll showed Thursday.

In a poll by Realmeter of 1,525 Koreans from Nov. 14 to 16, a mere 9.9 percent of respondents gave a positive view over Park’s state governance, marking a 1.6 percentage point drop from a week ago.

The figure marks the first-ever single-digit approval rating from the Seoul-based pollster since its initial survey following the president’s swearing-in in February 2013. The announcement also followed other record-low grades -- 5 percent shown in a poll by Gallup Korea and 9.2 percent by the Naeil daily and the Opinion, both released early this month.

Negative opinions on Park also hit a fresh high of 85.9 percent, up 2 percentage points from the same period.

The latest survey’s margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.

Public sentiment toward Park apparently continues to sour despite two rounds of public apologies for the scandal, which further sparked criticism for her lack of sincerity and failure to come clean about her involvement.

The ratings for the ruling Saenuri Party also remained in the 10s for a third straight time at 18.2 percent, outstripped on a daily basis for the first time on Monday by the minor opposition People’s Party.

“The results reflect the president’s refusal to step down despite the 1 million-strong candlelight vigil last weekend,” Realmeter said on its blog.

“The fall in Saenuri’s support came amid increasingly extreme internal strife over the fate of Park and party chair Rep. Lee Jung-hyun.”

By region, the president’s approval ratings in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province -- her traditional political turf -- slightly rebounded to 19.8 percent. The Saenuri Party, too, saw its support plunge to an unprecedented 36.9 percent there.

But the numbers for the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea also dropped by 1.5 percentage points to 30.5 percent, capping its recent upward trend.

The People’s Party, for its part, managed to garner 17 percent, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous survey a week before. The minor opposition Justice Party also witnessed a 1.5 percentage point rise in its approval rating, reaching 7.7 percent.

On the future of Park, 73.9 percent of respondents said Park should resign or be impeached by the parliament, up 13.5 percentage points.

Among potential presidential contenders, Moon Jae-in, a former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, topped the poll with 18.4 percent, despite a 1.4 percentage point drop.

The ratings of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, another potential candidate, stood at 18.4 percent, up 1.2 percentage points.

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party‘s former head, soared 1.7 percentage points to 11.9 percent.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)