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| Ruling Democratic Party of Korea, right, Chairman Lee Hae-chan and floor leader Lee In-young / Yonhap |
The ruling Democratic Party's approval rating has plunged to its lowest since the launch of the Moon Jae-in administration, a Gallup poll showed Friday, amid a controversy over the qualification of a newly recruited party official for the April 15 general elections.
In the three-day phone survey of 1,000 people nationwide, aged 18 or older, from Tuesday to Thursday, 34 percent supported the party, down 5 percentage points from two weeks earlier. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
It marks the lowest level since Moon's inauguration in May 2017.
The party's popularity was hit hard in the latter half of last year by public criticism of Moon's pick of Cho Kuk as his justice minister despite allegations of irregularities involving his children's schooling and family investment in a private equity fund.
It fell to 36-38 percent in September and mid-October before starting to rebound.
The party has faced another round of harsh public condemnation for its recruitment of a political rookie in his 20s last December. Won Jong-gun is accused of sexually abusing his former girlfriend. She made MeToo revelations via her social networking service account.
Gallup said the party's latest approval rating seems to have been affected by related controversies.
The portion of those who back the main opposition Liberty Korea Party dipped 1 percentage point to 21 percent, while that of swing voters jumped 6 percentage points to 33 percent, according to Gallup.
The president's approval rating dropped 4 percentage points to 41 percent, it added. (Yonhap)
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