S. Korean president's approval rating rises to 71.2 pct: poll

Alsharq Tribune-M.Essam 

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating rose 2.2 percentage points to 71.2 percent last week compared to two weeks earlier, a weekly poll showed Monday.

The negative assessment on Lee's conduct of state affairs declined 1.8 percentage points to 27.7 percent, according to computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) by local pollster Flower Research.

The ruling liberal Democratic Party's support advanced 3.4 percentage points to 56.6 percent, while the conservative opposition People Power Party's approval score slipped 2.1 percentage points to 24.1 percent.

Support rate for the minor left-leaning Rebuilding Korea Party and the minor rightist New Reform Party logged 2.3 percent and 2.2 percent each last week.

The pollster's separate survey of the automated response system (ARS) showed that Lee's approval rating jumped 5.4 percentage points to 63.7 percent last week compared to two weeks ago.

The CATI and the ARS surveyed 1,005 and 1,009 voters each from Friday to Saturday. The polls had plus and minus 3.1 percentage points in margin of error with a confidence level of 95 percent.