President Moon Jae-in (Yonhap)
President Moon Jae-in's approval rating dropped to its lowest in nine weeks, a poll showed Monday, as his administration struggles to calm public outcry over alleged speculative land purchases by officials at the state-owned housing supply enterprise.
Public support for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) also dipped, while that for the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) ascended, with less than a month left before the all-important Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, according to Realmeter.
In its five-day survey from last Monday of 2,510 voters nationwide, 37.7 percent of respondents supported Moon, the weakest level since 35.5 percent was posted in the starting week of the year and down 2.4 percentage points from the previous week.
It is the first time that Moon's approval rating has declined below 40 percent in Realmeter's tracking poll since it recorded 39.3 percent in the first week of February.
The portion of those who disapprove of Moon's presidency rose 1.7 percentage points to 57.4 percent.
His rating, especially, plunged 5.8 percentage points to 32.6 percent in Seoul and 5.3 percentage points to 58.3 percent in the Gwangju-Jeolla province area, a traditional power base of his left-leaning party.
By age, he lost 9.1 percentage point among those in their 20s, winning only 26.4 percent of support.
The main opposition party's approval rating across the country, meanwhile, gained 0.4 percentage point to 32.4 percent, as the DP's rating slid 0.9 percentage point to 30.1 percent.
In Seoul, the PPP added 2.2 percentage points to 36.4 percent, and the DP shed 2.0 percentage points to 27.6 percent.
The DP's rating, in particular, dived markedly on Thursday and Friday, according to a Realmeter official.
Now that controversies associated with the Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH) are expected to go on, chances are high that the issue will pose a "downside risk" for the approval ratings of Moon and the party this week as well, the official added.
The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 2.0 percentage points, with a 95 percent confidence level.
It was revealed that 20 LH officials had bought land in the Gwangmyeong-Siheung site of Gyeonggi Province and other regions close to Seoul well ahead of the government's announcement on plans to build new residential towns there as part of efforts to stabilize the real estate market.
Last week, the government made public the outcome of its initial internal probe into relevant suspicions, but many expressed disappointment with it. Police are expanding a separate investigation into the case.
A separate survey by another pollster showed that Yoon Seok-youl, a former prosecutor general, continues to gain traction in a competition of potential presidential candidates.
He garnered 37.2 percent of support in a poll by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) on who's fit to become the next president of South Korea.
He was trailed by Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung of the DP and a former DP leader Lee Nak-yon with 24.2 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively.
Yoon's rating ascended 4.8 percentage points from the KSOI's research a week earlier.
Independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo received 5.7 percent, former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae 2.7 percent, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun 2.4 percent and former PPP lawmaker Yoo Seung-min 2.2 percent.
Former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the minor opposition People's Party, were not included in the KSOI's survey on presidential hopefuls, as they are now running in the Seoul mayoral race.
It was conducted on 1,010 people aged 18 and older on Friday and Saturday. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a 95 percent confidence level.
Yoon resigned from the top prosecutorial post in early March, protesting against the Moon administration's prosecution reform drive.
Keen attention is being paid to the odds of Yoon becoming the flag bearer of the opposition bloc critical of Moon in the presidential election to take place in March next year.
According to a Realmeter poll on the April 7 by-election to pick the new Seoul mayor, the results of which were released later in the day, the PPP is projected to score a victory even if it does not field a "unified candidate" with Ahn's party.
In a hypothetical three-way contest with Ahn and the DP's candidate Park Young-sun, an ex-startups minister, Oh of the PPP took 35.6 percent, leading Park with 33.3 percent and Ahn with 25.1 percent.
Asked about who is favorable as a single candidate of the two opposition parties, Oh had the upper hand with 39.3 percent over Ahn with 32.8 percent.
The weekend survey of 1,030 adults in Seoul has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 percent. (Yonhap)