Yoon's approval rating falls to 19%, all-time low: survey

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating has fallen to 19 percent, the lowest level since he took office in May 2022, a recent poll by Gallup Korea showed Friday.

According to the pollster's survey, conducted on between Oct. 29-31 on 1,005 people aged 18 and older, the positive assessment of the president's performance, which remained at 20 percent in the previous surveys taken in the second week of September and the fourth week of October, respectively, dropped to a new record low of 19 percent.

The negative assessment of Yoon was 72 percent, up 2 percentage points from the previous survey.

Of respondents with a negative assessment of yoon, about 17 percent cited “allegations surrounding first lady Kim Keon Hee” as the primary reason for their negative views, while 14 percent pointed to “economic issues and livelihood of the people," followed by his “lack of communication with the public (7 percent).” The equal 7 percent mentioned his “incompetence in general.”

Meanwhile, among those who said he was performing well, 33 percent gave a positive assessment of Yoon's foreign policy, while 8 percent approved of his approach to increasing medical school admissions.

Approval ratings for the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party ware tied at 32 percent, followed by the Rebuilding Korea Party (7 percent), the New Reform Party at (2 percent) and the Progressive Party (1 percent).

The pollster noted that the impacts of a leaked audio file of a phone conversation between Yoon and his former political consultant Myung Tae-kyun, revealed to the public on the last day of the survey period, will likely not be reflected until the next poll.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.