Democratic Party Approval Ratings Plunge, Signaling Troubling Times Ahead

The Democratic Party’s approval rating is in a precarious situation. The gap with the People Power Party is widening.

Real Meter, a public opinion survey agency, announced on the 4th that it had conducted a party approval rating survey for the fifth week of February from the 26th to the 29th of last month at the request of the Energy Economic Newspaper, and the People Power Party recorded 46.7%, while the Democratic Party recorded 39.1%.

The People Power Party has been on the rise for two consecutive weeks since the third week of February, increasing by 3.2 percentage points compared to the fourth week of February, while the Democratic Party has been on a downward trend for four consecutive weeks, falling by 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous survey.

The gap between the two parties is 7.6%, and the People Power Party has been ahead for about a year since the third week of February last year (People Power Party 45%, Democratic Party 39.9%), showing a gap outside the error range (±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level).

Looking at the regions, the approval rating of the People Power Party increased in Seoul (up 10.5 percentage points), Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (up 9.0 percentage points) and decreased in Daegu, Gyeongbuk (down 7.2 percentage points), Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong (down 3.9 percentage points).

The approval rating of the Democratic Party increased in Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong (up 5.2 percentage points) and Daegu, Gyeongbuk (up 3.2 percentage points). It decreased in Seoul (down 9.0 percentage points), Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (down 2.6 percentage points).

Compared to the previous week, the approval rating of the Reform New Party decreased by 1.2 percentage points to 3.1%, the Green Justice Party decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 0.7%, and the New Future Party recorded 1.6%. The approval rating of those without a preferred party decreased by 1.7 percentage points to 4.2%.

This survey was conducted using a wireless (97%) and wired (3%) automatic response phone (ARS) survey method. Detailed contents can be found on the Central Election Opinion Poll Review Committee website.