A Realmeter survey commissioned by the Energy Business Newspaper of 2,509 registered voters nationwide aged 18 and over, conducted from August 24 to 28, 2026, found that President Lee Jae-myung’s approval rating for his job performance was 38.9%. The disapproval rating was 58.7%.
Approval fell 1.3 percentage points from the previous week, while disapproval rose 1.8 percentage points. According to Realmeter’s figures, approval has declined for seven consecutive weeks and entered the 30% range for the first time since Lee took office. The simple gap between approval and disapproval was 19.8 percentage points.
Rather than attributing the result conclusively to a single issue, it is necessary to examine the survey conditions separately from the polling agency’s analysis.
Survey Conditions and Margin of Error
The presidential job-performance poll had a margin of error of ±2.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, with a reported response rate of 3.9%.
Realmeter analyzed public sentiment over real estate, controversy surrounding the rejection of Supreme Court justice nominees, distrust of the police following a missing-person case in Jeju, and internal conflicts within the ruling camp as possible factors behind the decline. However, these are the polling agency’s interpretations, and no independent causal verification has been confirmed establishing that any individual issue directly caused the drop in approval.
Party Support Was Surveyed Separately
The party-support figures included in the same report came from a survey conducted separately from the presidential job-performance poll.
- Democratic Party of Korea: 43.1%
- People Power Party: 37.7%
The party-support poll was conducted from August 27 to 28, 2026, among 1,006 voters nationwide aged 18 and over, using an automated wireless-response method. The margin of error was ±3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Do Not Directly Compare These Figures with Gallup Korea’s Results
Gallup Korea surveyed 1,001 people nationwide aged 18 and over from August 25 to 27, 2026, and reported a 42% approval rating and a 50% disapproval rating for President Lee Jae-myung’s job performance.
However, Realmeter and Gallup Korea used different survey periods, samples, and methods. Therefore, rather than directly comparing 38.9% and 42% as rankings or trends measured on the same basis, the figures should be reviewed separately within the conditions presented by each polling agency.
Three points are central to understanding this Realmeter result: approval at 38.9%, a 1.3-percentage-point decline from the previous week, and seven consecutive weeks of decline culminating in the first entry into the 30% range since inauguration.
Sources: [Yonhap News Agency](https://www.yna.co.kr/amp/view/AKR20260831019851001), [Money Today](https://www.mt.co.kr/politics/2026/08/31/2026083108053286119), and [Newsis](https://www.newsis.com/view/NISX20260831_0003768735?id=NISX20260831_0003768735&reply=). The conditions of the party-support poll were cross-referenced with the [National Election Survey Deliberation Commission’s registered materials](https://nesdc.go.kr/portal/bbs/B0000005/view.do?edate=&menuNo=&nttId=19488&pageIndex=1&pdate=&pollGubuncd=&sdate=&searchCnd=&searchTime=&searchWrd=). Checked as of August 31, 2026.