The Marmot’s Hole

You know, as a Republican, I’m sometimes distressed by President Bush’s approval ratings. But then I think to myself, gee, there are people who have it much worse. Like President Roh Moo-hyun. The Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) announced today that the POTROK’s approval ratings had hit 22.9 percent, almost a record low for his three-year-old presidency (reported in Pressian). Since hitting a lofty 37.0 percent on the second anniversary of his inauguration, Roh’s approval ratings have nosedived, briefly threatening to cross the Mendoza Line in late September (20.4 percent) 2005 before rebounding to a Dick Cheney-like 28.8 percent in late January of this year.
Pretty impressive when you consider how Roh has yet to shoot anyone or invade any Middle Eastern states.
In particular, the government’s support rating in the Chungcheong region and greater Seoul area has taken a beating, thanks to the minor United Liberal Democrats throwing in the towel and folding into the Grand National Party.
As for people’s beefs with the president, 43.2 percent cited his inability to carry out policy, while 33.7 percent cited his big mouth. The KSOI said that after Roh’s first year, more people cited the president’s occasionally ill-advised comments as his biggest problem, but as critical opinion of the government has mounted, more and more people are citing substantial problems like his ability to carry out policies than relatively inessential issues like his public utterances.
On the other hand, 16.9 percent cited his efforts against corruption as his strongest point over the last three years. Some 14.1 percent cited his real estate stabilization policies, 10.6 percent cited his handling of the North Korean nuclear issue and intra-Korean relations, 6.7 percent liked his efforts toward political reform and expansion of social welfare programs, 3.8 percent praised his handling of the economy and 3.3 percent praised him for reducing social tensions. Some 27.6 percent of respondents, however, said he’s done nothing well.
The KSOI said that despite Roh’s low approval ratings, people still praised his political reform efforts, including the eradication of corruption, and his real estate stabilization efforts. It also said, however, that his low marks in other categories, such as “reducing social tensions,” have bottomed out as politically and ideologically fractious policies such as efforts to eradicate the legacies of the colonial and dictatorial eras and reform the private education law have been fleshed out.

Uri Party in the dumper, too

Cheong Wa Dae isn’t the only one hurtin’ in the polls. The Uri Party is also suffering from falling support, even after its recent national convention. Over the last two weeks, the party’s support has fallen nearly 2 percentage points, going from 20.3 percent to 18.4 percent.
Meanwhile, the Grand National Party continues to enjoy increasing support. Over the last two weeks, support for the GNP has increased 2.7 percentage points to 37.4 percent, mostly as a result of increasing support in the Chungcheong and Incheon-Gyeonggi regions. The KSOI said this boost in support was due to the party’s absorption of the Liberal Democrats.
Support for the Millennium Democratic Party stood at 4.1 percent, while that for the Democratic Labor Party was 8.9 percent.
Meanwhile, ahead of regional elections, the Uri Party is calling for a change in corrupt regional governments, while the Grand National Party is calling for voters to make the elections a referendum on the Roh administration. Some 47.0 percent of respondents said changing corrupt regional governments was more important than passing judgment on Roh, while 45.4 percent said passing judgment on the “impotent Roh administration” was more important.
Respondents from the Honam region, those under 30, the highly educated and high earners, white-collar workers, students, and supports of the Uri and Democratic Labor parties strongly favored tossing corrupt regional authorities on the street, while those in the Yeongnam region, over 50 and supporters of the GNP favored passing judgment on the Roh administration.
The poll was conducted on 700 adult men and women across the country on Feb. 21. It’s margin of error is plus-or-minus 3.7 percent.