Overview
- The Realmeter survey commissioned by EKN, conducted June 15–19 and released June 22, found Lee’s approval at 46.7% and disapproval at 49.7%, marking the first time negative ratings have exceeded positive since he took office.
- Polling analysts point to widespread ballot shortages during the June 3 local elections as the immediate trigger, with many voters forced to wait in long lines or leave without voting and public anger driving calls for accountability.
- Realmeter also cited escalating infighting inside the ruling Democratic Party and rising concerns about widening asset-market inequality as factors that eroded support among moderates and Seoul-area voters.
- In response, the presidential office said it will heed public concerns, and Lee ordered police and prosecutors to investigate the election problems and has called for a comprehensive overhaul of election management.
- A separate Realmeter poll showed party-level support narrowing, with the Democratic Party at 40.1% and the People Power Party at 42.3%, a shift that raises short-term political stakes and has prompted plans for a National Assembly probe into election administration failures.