Moon's approval rating rebounds substantially on U.S. summit deal: poll

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) -- President Moon Jae-in's job approval rating rebounded to nearly 40 percent for the first time in nearly three months thanks to positive reception toward his recent summit deal with U.S. President Joe Biden, according to a new poll released Monday.

In the survey conducted by Realmeter on 2,512 people over the age of 18 from May 24-28, Moon's job approval rating was recorded at 39.3 percent, up 4.4 percentage points from the previous week.

The result marked Moon's highest performance in public polls since the 40.1 percent figure in the first week of March, just before the administration was hit a massive real estate speculation scandal involving public officials at Korea Land and Housing Corp.

The polling agency cited the results of Moon's summit with Biden last week as having provided a boost for the president's rating.

On May 21, Moon and Biden held their first face-to-face summit in Washington and agreed on a wide range of issues, including a vision to pursue a global COVID-19 vaccine partnership, while reaffirming their commitment to dialogue with North Korea.

The growth of support toward Moon was most prominent in the Gwangju and Jeolla region, where he saw a 16.6 percentage point jump in approval, followed by an 8.5 percentage point jump in the Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang region.

Moon also registered higher approval ratings among those in their 20s and 40s and self-identifying swing voters, with 9.2 percentage point, 8.8 percentage point and 9.9 percentage point gains.

Among political parties, approval for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) slid 0.3 percentage point from a week ago to 35.6 percent, while support for the ruling Democratic Party inched up 0.8 percentage point to 30.5 percent.

During the tracked period, the PPP's approval reached as high as 37.4 percent Thursday, buoyed by the so-called convention bounce from the party's ongoing leadership race, according to Realmeter.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 percent level of confidence.

odissy@yna.co.kr
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