(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Jeong-jin and Ahn Jung-hoon = Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is about to take office two months ago, was concerned about the party's approval rating on the 11th.
At the 8/17 National Convention, the party pledged to 'increase the party's approval rating by 10 percentage points (p) within 100 days of inauguration', but this is because it has hit its lowest point since the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung administration and there is no immediate opportunity for a rebound.
Within the party, many believe that the reason is that the division within the ruling party, which surfaced during the National Assembly, has deepened recently due to issues such as prosecution reform.
There are evaluations that the party-government relationship has improved in the process of coordinating various pending issues since Representative Kim took office, but there are also concerns that there are too many schedules and messages.
Meanwhile, CEO Kim also seems to be seeking a breakthrough through on-site actions while somewhat reducing his message.
◇ Gallup Korea records lowest... KSOI reversed national power within the margin of error
In Gallup Korea's poll on the 9th, the Democratic Party's approval rating recorded 35%, down 5 percentage points from the previous survey three weeks ago.
This is the lowest since the Lee Jae-myung administration took office. When compared since the martial law situation, the figure is close to the figure at the end of November 2024 (33%), just before martial law.
In the case of President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating, in this survey, the approval rating for the government was recorded at 37%, the same as the previous survey, and although the negative evaluation was still high, it was numerically lower by 5 percentage points.
In a survey conducted by the Korea Social Opinion Institute (KSOI) on the 30th of last month, the Democratic Party recorded 36.3%, the same as the survey two weeks ago.
On the other hand, the People Power Party rose to 37.7%, up 4.5 percentage points (p) from the previous survey, and the People Power Party surpassed the Democratic Party for the first time within the margin of error (±3.1%p) in the KSOI regular survey.
Regarding this result, many voices within the party point to the unresolved division within the ruling party as the main reason.
A leadership official said in a phone call with Yonhap News, "As the president's approval rating remains the same and negative public opinion has decreased, it would be difficult to say that negative evaluations of the government had an influence." He added, "The level of internal controversy related to Kim Ji-yong, candidate for head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, may be a negative factor."
A party official pointed out, “The divided feelings at the convention have not returned,” and “It seems that the division of supporters is leading to disappointment in the party.”
In fact, in a Gallup Korea survey conducted on August 14, just before the national convention, 73% of progressive respondents said they supported the Democratic Party (41% approval rating for the party), but in the latest survey, this has dropped to 69%.
At the same time, the approval rating among moderates also decreased from 37% to 34%.
Some say that the special nature of the period, which is the stage for the opposition party during the National Assembly audit, should be taken into account.
An official from the National Assembly leadership said, “The National Assembly inspection is a difficult time for the ruling party,” and added, “It is common to score points with bills and budgets in November.”
◇ Kim Min-seok increasing field action and communication… Reduce the number of messages and schedules
For Representative Kim, considering the evaluation that party-government relations have improved since taking office, the 'struggling approval ratings' can only be a disappointing report card.
In this context, it is noteworthy that there are recent signs of change in the actions of Representative Kim, who aggressively pursued a political schedule and issued messages after taking office.
For example, he spoke about 4,500 characters in his general statement at the highest level in North Chungcheong Province on the 11th of last month, but the volume of his recent messages has decreased, such as speaking only 590 characters at the highest level on the 7th.
Furthermore, Representative Kim plans to place more emphasis on on-site actions and communication within the party in the future.
While the party has so far focused on raising its voice directly for a complete overhaul of the party's structure and operating method, the intention is to focus on listening to public sentiment on the ground and finding solutions from now on.
A leadership official explained, "Representative Kim has recently been trying to find problems in the field, supplement policies through consultations between the party and government, and seek solutions to conflicts through dialogue and communication. He is trying to find practical solutions rather than raising his voice and achieve results through coordination rather than escalating conflict."
In fact, as public opinion against the government-promoted farmland census grew among farmers, Representative Kim convened an emergency closed-door meeting of the party and government on the 5th and ordered Song Mi-ryeong, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, to prepare measures to minimize side effects.
On the 7th, we had a meeting with farmer organizations such as the National Federation of Farmers' Associations, and on the 8th, we visited an agricultural field in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province and had a meeting with farmers.
As the government announced on the 8th that it would not dispose of land in violation of farmland laws other than for speculative purposes, it was evaluated that CEO Kim contributed to policy coordination.
Representative Kim also visited Lee Ji-woong, chairman of the National Federation of Public Industry Trade Unions, who had staged a hunger strike in protest of the government's push to merge public institutions, twice and promised to establish a joint consultation system at the National Assembly level to verify public institution reform plans.
In addition, within the party, small-scale meetings of each player are being held to collect opinions from lawmakers on the direction of the National Assembly's response to the November budget.
This movement is interpreted as reflecting voices within the party that Representative Kim should focus on inclusion and integration rather than directly jumping into the internal conflict within the ruling party.
A party official said, “There is a lot of reflective advice coming out about whether it is reasonable for Representative Kim to be blatantly on the conflict front,” and added, “There were also opinions that Minty 07 should reduce such aspects as there are cases where it actually triggers conflict.”
The explanation is that Representative Kim is aware that his approval rating pledge is not easy and is accepting advice from those around him that change is necessary.
However, as the division within the ruling party, which deepened after the national convention, is considered the main cause of the decline in approval ratings, it is unclear whether it will be possible to bring about a rebound in approval ratings just by focusing on on-site actions and party-government relations.
The fact that Representative Kim nominated himself as a pro-Myung (pro-Lee Jae-myung) candidate at the national convention and that he must support the Blue House as the representative of the ruling party is also a factor that narrows the scope of Representative Kim's political maneuvering.
A party official said, "As the party leader is in a position with decision-making authority, there is a need to be more accepting of different opinions. Now is the time for the leader to appeal and persuade with more sincerity."
The Gallup Korea survey cited in the article was conducted on 1,000 people aged 18 or older between the 6th and 8th. The survey was conducted using a telephone researcher's interview method using randomly selected wireless phone numbers, and the sampling error was ±3.1%p at a 95% confidence level and the response rate was 9.7%.
The KSOI public opinion poll was conducted using the ARS automated response method targeting 1,001 people aged 18 or older across the country using wireless virtual numbers provided by the three telecommunication companies on September 28-29. The confidence level is 95%.
