Yoon’s approval rating rises slightly

Dec 19, 2022, 09:30 am

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President Yoon Suk-yeol gives a greeting at a meeting with the public to check the progress on the Yoon administration’s key policy tasks at the guesthouse of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Dec. 15, 2022./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Lee Wook-jae

It seems that public sentiment is responding to President Yoon Suk-yeol’s ‘perseverance’ ahead of his second year in office. Political observers say Yoon is restoring the driving force for state affairs as his job approval rating has recently risen to 40 percent.

Starting this week, the presidential office plans to receive New Year briefing from the ministries to listen to public sentiment, and publicize the sincerity of the Yoon administration to further boost the driving force for state affairs.

Gallup Korea surveyed 1,001 adults from Tuesday to Thursday, and found that the public’s positive assessment of Yoon’s performance increased to 36 percentage, while those assessing him negatively decreased to 56 percent. Yoon’s approval rating has reached the mid-30-percent range for the first time in five months. In some other recent polls, Yoon’s approval rating has reached over 40 percent.

The reasons cited by those who assessed Yoon’s job performance positively were Yoon’s response to the cargo truckers’ strike. Based on his “fairness and principles”, Yoon drew the end of the strike of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), not only bringing back the conservatives to the ruling party but also recovering the public sentiment of the centrists, observers say.

Besides, Yoon’s declaration to abolish a set of expanded health insurance coverage policies called “Moon Jae-in Care” and the recent meeting with the pubic to check the progress on the Yoon administration’s key policy tasks served as an opportunity to publicize Yoon’s tenacity. His recent criticism against the Moon Jae-in Care, calling it “populist policies” and his remarks on the labor reform served as a factor to stimulate future generations and supporters, observers say.

Starting this week, Yoon plans to receive New Year briefings from ministries and inform the public of the roadmap for implementing policy tasks in detail. They believe that publicizing the sincerity of the Yoon administration is the only way to secure the driving force for state affairs. “There is a clear limit for the presidential office to carry out a full-scale reform while the opposition Democratic Party continues to have a majority in the National Assembly,” a high-ranking official in the presidential office said. “In the end, we have to have national support in the back.”

The New Year briefing is expected to include the ministries’ plans to secure the driving force for the three reforms involving labor, education and pension. “We plan to arrange discussions on common issues by tying up reports from two or three ministries,” deputy presidential spokesperson Lee Jae-myung said.

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