Moon maintains high approval rating in latest poll

Published : Aug 20, 2017 - 20:01 Updated : Aug 20, 2017 - 20:01

A new poll released Sunday showed President Moon Jae-in continuing to enjoy high approval ratings despite a slight drop from the previous month.

According to the poll conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI), 85.3 percent of those surveyed said the new president was doing a good job in managing state affairs. The reading marked a 0.6 percentage point drop from a month before.

The poll was conducted on 1,018 adults throughout the country on Friday and Saturday. It carried a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

(Yonhap)

The poll showed Moon's approval was highest among those in their 30s with 93.1 percent, followed by people in their 20s at 90.4 percent. By region, he was most popular in Gwangju and North and South Jeolla Provinces with 96.7 percent.

When asked why they support Moon, 34 percent picked the president's effort to communicate with people, while 17.6 percent said they acknowledged Moon's effort to keep his election promises.

Just over 12 percent cited his efforts to eradicate deep-rooted irregularities and corruption.

Those who disapproved of Moon accounted for 12.7 percent of all respondents, up 0.9 percentage point from the previous month.

The approval rating of the ruling Democratic Party inched up 2.7 points to 54.8 percent. The main opposition Liberty Korea Party gained 1 point to 10.3 percent. The minor progressive Justice Party scored 6.6 percent to rank ahead of the liberal People's Party (4.6 percent) and the splinter conservative Bareun Party (3.9 percent).

Meanwhile for the survey on a constitutional revision, 47.7 percent of the respondents said the amendment should be conducted in a way to reinforce people's basic rights, while only 29.8 percent said it should be about changing the government structure.

When asked about having a "medium burden, medium welfare" system in South Korean society, 81.6 percent supported the idea, with more than 75 percent of the respondents saying they are willing to pay more taxes to expand welfare and solve bipolarization issues.

Also, 67.6 percent of all respondents said they believe the Moon administration's new real estate measures to stabilize the overheated housing market will work. It also founded that 83.6 percent agreed to tightening up the real estate holding tax. (Yonhap)