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President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea greets Kang Hoon-sik, the Blue House chief of staff, upon arriving at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on Jan. 7, 2026, following a state visit to China. (Yonhap)

Public opinion polls show President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating inching above the 60% mark for the first time in a month.
 
On Thursday, Embrain Public, KSTAT Research, Korea Research International and Hankook Research announced findings from a National Barometer Survey indicating that 61% of respondents were happy with Lee’s job as president, a 2-percentage-point increase from two weeks earlier. The survey had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
 
The return to the 60% range comes around a month after Lee’s approval rating dipped slightly into the 50% range. The latest survey showed Lee polling above 50% with all age groups except those aged 18-29, among whom he had an approval rating of 41%.
 
The president’s disapproval rating was at 29%, 3 percentage points lower than the previous survey. The gap between Lee’s approval and disapproval ratings has grown compared to two weeks ago, widening from 27 percentage points to 32.
 
The survey showed 61% of respondents replying that they trusted Lee’s governance, down 1 point from last month, while 34% said they did not, up 1 point.
 
Support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea was 39%, a 2-point decrease from the preceding survey, while support for the opposition People Power Party rose by 3 percentage points to 23%.

Support for the Democrats has been declining for the past month, slipping into the 30% range, while the PPP is seeing its first uptick in support in around a month and a half, narrowing the gap in support between the two parties from 21 percentage points two weeks ago to 16 percentage points. 

Both the Reform Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party were polling at 3% support, while 30% of respondents declined to say which party they supported.
 
This survey was conducted during Lee’s state visit to China. Public opinion on the direction that Lee is taking for South Korea-China relations was split almost evenly. While 48% of respondents stated that South Korea ought to consider security concerns and our alliance with the US alliance and keep some distance with China, 46% of respondents said that South Korea must remain amicable with China for the sake of the economy and the national interest.
 
Meanwhile, approval of the current administration’s economic policies varied by subject. Respondents approved of support policies for vulnerable groups and the socially disadvantaged at a rate of 62% — a major jump from two years ago, during the previous administration, when approval for this policy area was 37%.

Respondents further approved of the Lee administration’s support policies for small business owners and SMEs at a rate of 46%, approved of job and employment policies at a rate of 46%, and approved of housing and real estate policies at a rate of 36%. 
 
Out of those polled, 54% were in favor of the government’s shift in approach toward supporting companies that adopt the 4.5-day workweek rather than mandating it by law, with 35% disagreeing. Meanwhile, 52% of respondents supported the government’s policy to strengthen regulations on the comprehensive wage system, exceeding opposition to such regulations by 19 points (33%).
 
The survey was conducted Jan. 5-7, polling 1,005 respondents aged 18 and above. The details of the survey can be found on the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission’s official website (in Korean).

By Jang Na-rye, staff reporter

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