Lee's approval rating rises for 2nd consecutive week: poll
President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a debate session with scientists and engineers at the National Science Museum in Daejeon, Nov. 7. Joint Press Corps
President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating rose for the second consecutive week, driven by positive sentiment toward his diplomacy and economic policies, a survey showed Monday.
According to the survey by Realmeter commissioned by a local news outlet, 56.7 percent gave a positive assessment of Lee's job performance, up 3.7 percentage points from the previous week.
Negative assessment of Lee fell 4.6 percentage points to 38.7 percent.
Realmeter attributed the increase earlier last week to optimism surrounding Lee's diplomatic activities and economic outlook following the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a bullish stock market and his annual budget speech.
The pollster said the upward trend slowed toward the end of the week as the stock market declined and political controversy grew over the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's bill to suspend criminal trials for a sitting president, which was later shelved.
The survey was conducted on 2,528 adults from Monday to Friday last week and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, with a confidence rate of 95 percent.
In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster on 1,004 individuals aged 18 and over Thursday and Friday, the approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party rose 1.1 percentage points to 46.5 percent.
Support for the main opposition People Power Party shed 3.1 percentage points to 34.8 percent.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence rate of 95 percent.