|
Some 75.4 percent of respondents in a telephone poll were critical of President Roh Moo-hyun¡¯s handling of state affairs, while only 14.6 percent supported the increasingly unpopular president. The poll of 700 people was conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute on Tuesday. The president¡¯s approval ratings in the latest poll were the second lowest to date after 14.1 percent tallied in June, immediately after the May 31 local elections. The KSOI¡¯s polls are conducted biweekly.
After three-and-a-half years in office, President Roh¡¯s approval ratings are 10 percentage points lower than any of his predecessors.¡¯ In Gallup polls, former presidents Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung slipped to approval ratings of 28 percent and 25 percent with about 18 month remaining of their tenure. Kim Young-sam¡¯s approval rating plunged below 20 percent only in the last year of his tenure. Kim Dae-jung¡¯s never dropped that low. But President Roh¡¯s was 17.8 percent in a Gallup poll on July 20.
Meanwhile, the ruling Uri Party¡¯s approval ratings also plummeted to 11.7 percent, the lowest since the party was founded. The main opposition Grand National Party recorded approval ratings of 34.9 percent, triple the Uri Party¡¯s. The Millennium Democratic Party and the Democratic Labor Party stood at 5.8 percent and 5.4 percent. Asked about economic prospects for the next year, pessimists greatly outnumbered optimists: only 11 percent were optimistic while 37.4 percent were pessimistic, the highest in this year¡¯s KSOI polls. Some 50.2 percent expected no tangible changes in the economy.
The confidence level was 95 percent with a margin of error of ¡¾3.7 percent.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
