![]() |
President Moon Jae-in speaks during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Nov. 17. Moon's job approval rating has dropped over a series of policy failures, according to a poll agency, Monday. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok |
By Jung Da-min
President Moon Jae-in's job approval rating has dropped over a series of policy failures, according to a poll agency, Monday, with the gap between his approval and disapproval rating recording highest since October 2019 when controversies were rising over former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's influence-peddling scandals.
In a poll conducted of 2,514 adults by Realmeter last week, 42.7 percent of the respondents believed Moon was doing a good job, down 1.6 percentage points from a week before. Those expressing disapproval of Moon's job performance have been outnumbering those expressing support, with 53 percent viewing him negatively, up 2 percentage points from the week before.
The gap between the approval and disapproval ratings of Moon's job performance was 10.3 percentage points, the highest since October 2019 when it recorded 14.7 percentage points when Moon received criticism for pushing ahead with the appointment of Justice Minister Cho Kuk despite corruption allegations.
Political watchers attributed the drop in the president's job approval rating to recent policy failures of the ruling bloc, including the continuing housing crisis with soaring prices, conflicts between Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl regarding Moon's prosecutorial reform policies, the resurging number of COVID-19 cases and the government's decision to reverse its earlier plan to expand Gimhae International Airport to build another airport instead.
To deal with the chronic housing crisis, the government has recently decided to convert hotels and offices into residential studios especially for single, young renters. The plan, however, drew negative responses from the public for not presenting fundamental solutions to the soaring housing prices. In another poll by Realmeter, Monday, 39.4 percent of 500 adults said the policy would work while 54.1 percent said it would not help the situation.