Moon's approval rating declines amid controversy over his personnel choices

All News 09:14 June 19, 2017

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in's approval rating declined to the mid-70 percent range last week, a survey showed Monday, amid a political standoff over his controversial personnel choices.

In the survey conducted from Monday through Friday by local pollster Realmeter, Moon's rating was tallied at 75.6 percent, down 3.3 percentage points from a week earlier.

In the same poll, 17.4 percent disapproved of the president's job performance, up 2.7 percentage points from the previous week, while 7 percent said they were not sure, or refused to answer.

Over the past several weeks, opposition parties have criticized Moon's picks for top government and judicial posts due to their alleged ethical lapses.

Moon's support rating declined the most in the southwestern region of Gwangju and Jeolla Provinces (8.1 percentage points), followed by the southeastern region of Busan, South Gyeongsang Province and Ulsan (5.1 percentage points).

By age, support fell the most among those aged 60 or older (5.1 percentage points), followed by those in their 50s (5 percentage points.)

In the survey, the ruling Democratic Party's rating dropped 0.6 percentage point to 53.6 percent, while the main opposition Liberty Korea Party garnered 14.7 percent, up 0.4 percentage point.

The People's Party ranked third with 6.8 percent, a loss of 0.5 percentage point, while the Justice Party and Bareun Party received 6.4 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively.

The survey was conducted on 2,534 eligible voters across the country and had a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.