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President Lee Jae-myung leaves the briefing room at the Cheongwadae Chunchugwan press center on the 19th after concluding a briefing on the outcomes of his G7 summit attendance and European tour. / Yonhap News

President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating for his handling of state affairs has declined for the fifth consecutive week, with negative assessments outnumbering positive ones for the first time since he took office.

According to a poll conducted by Realmeter commissioned by Energy Economy News from the 15th to the 19th among 2,517 eligible voters aged 18 and older nationwide, positive assessment of President Lee's state management in his 55th week in office stood at 46.7% on the 22nd. This is a 4.8 percentage point drop from the previous week.

Negative assessment rose by 5.5 percentage points from the prior week to 49.7%. The gap between positive and negative ratings was 3.0 percentage points, remaining within the margin of error. Respondents who answered "don't know" accounted for 3.6%.

President Lee's approval rating has now declined for five straight weeks. Looking at the daily trends, the positive rating, which stood at 48.1% on the 12th, fell to 47.6% on the 16th, 46.4% on the 17th, and 46.8% on the 18th, before sliding further to 45.6% on the 19th.

Realmeter analyzed that "the spreading blame triggered by the mismanagement of the June 3 local elections and the internal friction over party leadership within the ruling party have exerted a negative impact across the political landscape."

The polling agency further explained, "Despite positive factors such as the outcomes of his European tour and the KOSPI surpassing the 9,000 mark, concerns over wealth inequality in the asset market gained prominence, leading to a loss of support centering around centrist voters and the Seoul metropolitan area, which prolonged the downward trend."

By region, the Daegu-North Gyeongsang Province area recorded the steepest decline, dropping by 9.9 percentage points. The rating also fell by 7.6 percentage points in the Incheon-Gyeonggi area and 7.4 percentage points in Seoul. The relatively sharp decline in the metropolitan region is expected to place a burden on Cheongwadae.

By age group, the largest drop was observed among respondents in their 50s, falling by 9.1 percentage points. Ratings among those in their 20s and 40s also decreased by 6.2 percentage points and 5.5 percentage points, respectively.

Meanwhile, the poll was conducted through an automated response system using 100% wireless random digit dialing. The response rate for the presidential performance evaluation survey was 4.2%, and the margin of error is plus or minus 2.0 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Further details can be found on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

                                                                                                       Park Young-hoon