Park approval falls following floor leader brouhaha

By Kang Seung-woo

President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating fell nearly 3 percentage points in the latest poll, released Monday, adversely affected by controversy over Saenuri Party floor leader Yoo Seong-min’s resignation.

According to the Realmeter poll, 34.6 percent of Koreans approve of the way Park is handling her presidency ― 2.7 percentage points down from 37.3 percent the previous week ― compared with 60.5 percent who disapprove. The disapproval rate rose 3.4 percentage points.

The poll organization, which has carried out a weekly survey of the Park administration, said a schism highlighted by the ruling party floor leader’s resignation had hurt Park’s popularity.

“Yoo’s resignation prompted moderate and independent supporters to lose confidence in Park,” it said in a statement.

According to the pollster, the controversy accounted for 2 percentage points of the overall decline in her approval rating, and 2 percentage points of the increase in her disapproval rating.

Yoo, who took office in February, quit last week after Park forced him out for allegedly “betraying her” by pushing a bipartisan bill in May to empower the National Assembly to review government ordinances.

Separately, in a popularity poll for potential presidential candidates, Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung topped the list with a 20.8 percent rating ― down 0.5 percentage points from a week ago.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) Chairman Moon Jae-in rounded out the top three with 18.4 percent and 17.4 percent respectively.