 |
| President Moon Jae-in waits for invited children at his office during Children's Day, Sunday. His approval rating remained in the high 40-percent range for the seventh consecutive week. / Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
President Moon Jae-in's approval rating inched up close to 50 percent, according to a survey released Monday. In a Realmeter poll conducted from April 29 to 30 and May 2 to 3, 49.1 percent of 2,018 respondents said they support Moon's job performance, up from 47.4 percent when the last survey was taken from April 22 to 26. This puts Moon's approval rating in the high 40-percent range for the seventh consecutive week.
Moon's disapproval rating came in at 46 percent, down 2.4 percentage points. The remaining respondents said they were undecided about the President's job performance.
Analysts said the polls show a sign that conservative and liberal voters are polarizing under their rival parties, in the wake of the fast-tracking of reform bills and Moon's struggle to salvage dialogue with North Korea.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) received the support of 40.1 percent, the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) 33 percent, the Justice Party 10 percent, the Bareunmirae Party 5.2 percent and the Party for Democracy and Peace 2.3 percent.
The DPK's approval rating rose 2.1 percentage points, continuing the upward trend for the third consecutive week and making the 40-pecernt range for the first time in 10 weeks.
The LKP's approval rating rose by 1.5 percentage points. The 33 percent support is also the highest the party has received since President Moon took office in May 2017.
"It can be said the partisan rift over the fast-tracking of bills had an impact on the rise of support for the ruling and main opposition parties," Realmeter said.
The poll had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.
Moon's vision for a peace-driven economy is being put to the test, amid a high unemployment rate and stalled nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea.
![[INTERVIEW] Choi Min-sik, Lee Dong-hwi on creating Korean-style noir with 'Big Bet'](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/8b795a8f6b42492db4e8fdc47e9abd8d.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
