6 in 10 back Moon's proposal for constitutional revision
By Park Ji-won
Six out of 10 South Koreans support President Moon Jae-in's proposal for a constitutional revision, according to a survey released Thursday.
The survey, conducted by Realmeter, showed 59.6 percent of respondents backed Moon's decision to submit a constitutional amendment bill because they believed the National Assembly was not active regarding the matter.
It also showed 28.7 percent were against the Moon-led bill, seeing it as a politically motivated move to pass the responsibility to the opposition bloc for the failure of negotiations over the revision; while 11.7 percent said they did not know enough to have an opinion.
The poll was conducted after President Moon announced a government-led constitutional revision bill March 26, urging the National Assembly to propose its own.
By region, Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces showed the highest approval rate with 72.6 percent; followed by Seoul with 65.9 percent; Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, 64 percent; Daejeon and Chungcheong Province, 58.2 percent; and Busan, South Gyeongsang Province and Ulsan with 54.9 percent.
On the other hand, 62 percent of voters in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province were negative about Moon's proposed bill.
By age group, those in their 40s showed the highest support rate with 75.4 percent, followed by people in their 20s with 69 percent, in their 30s with 65.7 percent and in their 50s with 54.8 percent. Among those in their 60s, 41.5 percent were against the revision, slightly higher than support of 39.9 percent.
Respondents who are left-leaning showed an 84.7 percent support rate, while 8.2 percent opposed it.
Meanwhile, the President's support rate has slipped, despite breakthroughs with North Korea such as discussions about sending a performance troupe there, largely because of disputes among the ruling and opposition parties regarding the revision, the pollster said Thursday.
The poll conducted by Realmeter on 1,501 adults showed an approval rate of 69.3 percent, down 0.3 percentage points from a week before. Those negative about Moon rose to 26.4 percent, up 2.6 percentage points in the same period.
The pollster said the approval rating of right-leaning voters largely decreased, while left-leaning and centrist voters showed a mixed reaction to Moon's administration.