Lee’s approval rises to 62.2% amid ‘rally-round-the-flag’ boost: poll

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating rose for a third consecutive week to 62.2 percent, staying above 60 percent for a second week, according to a poll released Monday.

Positive assessments of Lee’s job performance rose 1.9 percentage points from the previous week, according to the Realmeter survey commissioned by a local news outlet.

The uptick is pushing figures toward Lee's highest approval rating of 64.6 percent in July 2025, recorded just a month after his inauguration.

Negative assessments of Lee’s performance marked 32.5 percent, down 2.5 percentage points from a week earlier, while 5.3 percent of respondents said they were unsure.

“Proactive measures to support livelihoods — including a wartime supplementary budget, a price cap on petroleum products and a possible vehicle rationing system in response to the Middle East crisis — appear to have been positively evaluated as effective crisis management,” Realmeter said in its weekly report.

“The recent upward trend also suggests a strong rally-around-the-flag effect centered on the president in a time of national crisis.”

Lee has called for measures to ease the fallout from the ongoing Middle East conflict, which began with joint strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran on Feb. 28, on multiple occasions, including at a weekly Cabinet meeting on March 17 and a weekly meeting with senior aides and secretaries on March 19.

Realmeter conducted phone interviews with 2,513 eligible voters from March 16 to 20.

By region, approval ratings rose across the country except in Seoul, where support fell 4.7 percentage points to 55.1 percent from 59.8 percent a week earlier.

Support for Lee in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the longtime conservative stronghold of Korea, rose 4.8 percentage points to 46.6 percent from 41.8 percent.

By ideology, Lee’s approval rating among conservatives notably rose to 37.2 percent from 33.9 percent the previous week, extending its upward trend. A week earlier, support among conservatives had edged up 3.1 percentage points to 33.9 percent.

By gender and age, support increased among both men and women, as well as among respondents in their 20s, 30s, 40s and those aged 70 and older, a group that generally tilts conservative.

In a separate Realmeter survey on party support, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea garnered 53 percent, up 2.5 percentage points from the previous week.

The support rate for the main opposition People Power Party recorded 28.1 percent, down 3.8 percentage points from the prior week.

The Democratic Party rose for a third straight week, staying in the 50 percent range for a second consecutive week. In contrast, the People Power Party extended its losing streak and fell into the 20 percent range for the first time in about seven months, since the fifth week of July last year, when it stood at 27.2 percent.

The gap between the two parties widened to 24.9 percentage points, having marked 18.6 percentage points a week earlier.

“The rise in support for the Democratic Party appears to be driven by a spillover effect from the president’s preemptive livelihood-focused response to the Middle East crisis, which translated into backing for the ruling party,” Realmeter analyzed in its report.

Another factor for the upturn trend is a “contrast effect with the People Power Party’s severe internal turmoil that reinforced the image of the ruling party as stable,” according to the pollster.

Realmeter said the People Power Party’s decline appeared to be driven largely by defections in the Chungcheong region, after North Chungcheong Province Gov. Kim Young-hwan sought an injunction to suspend the effect of the party’s decision to cut him out of the nomination process ahead of the June 3 local elections.

Support for the party also fell sharply in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province amid the spread of rumors over predetermined nominations for local elections.

Rep. Joo Ho-young, deputy speaker of the National Assembly and a candidate in the Daegu mayoral race, warned at a March 20 press conference that he “would not stay still” if a fair primary were undermined by prearranged nominations.

Support for the People Power Party fell across the country except in the region of Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province.

The nationwide survey was conducted from March 19 to 20 among 1,005 voters aged 18 and older.