▲ President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a meeting with his senior secretaries at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 29, 2026. (Yonhap)

Lee-approval rating

Lee's approval rating edges up to 54.5 pct: poll

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating rose to 54.5 percent last week amid the bullish stock market and a move to stabilize the property market, a survey showed Monday.

The rating was up 1.4 percentage points from the previous week, while the negative assessment fell 1.4 percentage points to 40.7 percent, according to the survey by Realmeter and commissioned by a local business news outlet.

Realmeter said support among self-employed workers and homemakers rose sharply as the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index and the secondary KOSDAQ index continued to hit record highs.

Support for Lee was also buoyed by his move to restore higher capital gains tax for multiple home owners aimed at curbing the overheating trend of the housing market, according to the pollster.

It also expanded across the greater Seoul area following the announcement last Thursday of new real estate measures, which includes supplying an additional 60,000 housing units in the Seoul metropolitan area mostly for young people and newly married couples.

The survey was conducted on 2,516 adults from Monday to Friday last week and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, with a confidence level of 95 percent.

In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster on 1,005 individuals aged 18 and over on Thursday and Friday, the approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party rose 1.2 percentage points to 43.9 percent.

Support for the main opposition People Power Party shed 2.5 percentage points to 37 percent.

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

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