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| ▲ President Lee Jae Myung salutes a flag during a meeting with his senior secretaries at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 8, 2026. (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
Lee-approval rating
Lee's approval rating rebounds to 60 pct: poll
SEOUL, Jan. 9 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating rose to 60 percent this week amid positive public sentiment over his diplomacy, a poll showed Friday.
The survey by Gallup Korea, conducted Tuesday through Thursday on 1,000 respondents aged 18 and over, showed that the positive assessment of Lee's overall performance climbed 5 percentage points from the previous poll in mid-December.
Thirty-three percent gave a negative view, down from the previous survey's 36 percent, while 7 percent withheld their evaluation.
Diplomacy topped all other areas of state affairs among the reasons cited for positive assessments, accounting for 30 percent, followed by 14 percent who pointed to his leadership in managing the economy and livelihood issues.
Negative assessments were mostly driven by views critical of his performance on the economy and livelihood matters.
The pollster assessed that Lee's recent state visit to China appears to have brought his diplomacy back to the center of attention, which drove positive assessments.
Lee recently came back from a four-day state visit to China, where he held summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping to enhance economic ties and coordination on peace efforts regarding North Korea.
The two sides also addressed sensitive issues, including China's steel structures in overlapping waters of the Yellow Sea, which Seoul views as potential groundwork for territorial claims.
The approval rating for the ruling Democratic Party came to 45 percent, while that of the main opposition People Power Party stood at 26 percent.
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
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