Moon's approval rating rises amid job creation push

Published : Jul 28, 2017 - 11:09 Updated : Jul 28, 2017 - 11:09

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose this week after the parliamentary passage of an extra budget bill he has pushed to help create jobs and spur growth, a survey showed Friday.

In the weekly survey conducted from Tuesday to Thursday by local pollster Gallup Korea, Moon's support rating was tallied at 77 percent, up 3 percentage points from a week earlier.

Those who disapproved of his job performance made up 13 percent, down 3 percentage points from the previous week, while 9 percent said they were unsure or refused to answer.

The increase in public support for the liberal president came after the National Assembly passed the 11.03 trillion-won ($9.8 billion) supplementary budget bill Saturday, which entailed a cross-party agreement to create 2,575 central government jobs.

(Yonhap)

The supplementary budget was part of Moon's efforts to follow through on his key election pledge to create 810,000 "quality" jobs in the public sector during his five-year presidency that ends in 2022.

The survey put public support for the ruling Democratic Party at 50 percent, up 4 percentage points, while that of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party was tallied at 10 percent, down 1 percentage point.

The Bareun Party scored 8 percent, while the People's Party and Justice Party received 4 percent each.

The survey was conducted on 1,008 adults across the country and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level. (Yonhap)