▲ President Lee Jae Myung attends a Cabinet meeting at the government office in Sejong, central South Korea, on Aug. 11, 2026. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung's disapproval rating has surpassed his approval rating for the first time since he took office, a survey showed Friday, amid mounting criticism of his real estate policies.

In a survey conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday through Thursday on 1,000 people aged 18 and older, 44 percent positively assessed Lee's management of state affairs, down 7 percentage points from the previous survey released on July 24.

The negative assessment jumped 8 percentage points to 46 percent, exceeding positive assessment for the first time in a Gallup poll since Lee took office in June 2025.

Recent polls conducted by Realmeter and the National Barometer Survey also showed his approval rating fell to the lowest levels since his inauguration.

In the Gallup poll, diplomacy was the most frequently cited reason for the positive evaluation at 19 percent, followed by the economy and people's livelihoods at 15 percent and overall performance at 8 percent.

Among those who disapproved of his performance, 30 percent pointed to his real estate policies, followed by concerns over the economy and people's livelihoods at 13 percent and overall performance at 7 percent.

Another five percent cited his "authoritarian" leadership style and the government's recent move to scale back prosecutorial powers.

The drop came amid growing concerns over the government's recent property tax revisions that would increase the tax burden on owners of high-end homes and those who do not reside in their properties.

On Thursday, the government unveiled a comprehensive housing plan aimed at supplying more than 230,000 additional homes in the Seoul metropolitan area, though critics have questioned whether the plan would be effective in easing the housing shortage.

The same survey showed that the ruling Democratic Party's approval rating fell 3 percentage points to 41 percent from the previous poll, while that of the main opposition People Power Party rose 2 percentage points to 25 percent.

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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