▲ President Lee Jae Myung attends a meeting with his senior secretaries at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on May 21, 2026. (Yonhap)

president-approval rating

Lee's approval rating rebounds to 64 percent: poll

SEOUL, May 22 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating rebounded to 64 percent this week from the previous week, led by positive assessments of his economic policies, a poll showed Friday.

The survey by Gallup Korea, conducted Tuesday through Thursday on 1,002 respondents aged 18 and over, showed that the positive assessment of Lee's overall performance gained 3 percentage points from the previous week.

The negative assessment remained unchanged at 28 percent.

Lee's policies on the economy and people's livelihood were cited most frequently as the reason for the positive evaluation at 24 percent, followed by diplomacy at 12 percent and competency at 7 percent.

Among the negative responses, concerns over excessive welfare and subsidies were the most commonly cited reason at 13 percent, followed by economic difficulties, livelihood concerns and high foreign exchange rates at 11 percent.

The president's approval rating exceeded 50 percent in all major cities and provinces, with support highest in the southwestern city of Gwangju and Jeolla Province at 89 percent, followed by the central region of Daejeon, Sejong and Chungcheong at 65 percent, and Seoul at 63 percent.

The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) remained unchanged at 45 percent from the previous week, while that of the main opposition People Power Party fell 1 percentage point to 22 percent.

In the same survey, 46 percent of respondents said DP candidates should be elected in next month's local elections, while 33 percent favored opposition candidates.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

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