Yoon's approval rating over 40% for third straight week

Seoul, March 6 (IANS) South President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating has stayed over 40 per cent for a third straight week on the back of strengthened efforts to handle economic and livelihood matters, a new poll revealed on Monday.

In the poll of 2,006 adults conducted by Realmeter from February 27 to March 3, the positive assessment of Yoon's performance rose 2.5 percentage points from a week earlier to 42.9 per cent, reports Yonhap News agency.

His disapproval rating fell 3.8 percentage points to 53.2 per cent in the same period.

Realmeter said the gain could be attributable to the recent policy focus on tackling economic and livelihood issues in the wake of a public outcry over high interest rates and rising inflation and concerns over global economic headwinds.

The government announced a plan to freeze railroad, postal and other public utility fees in the first half of the year to help ease people's economic burdens and Yoon has pledged to run as the country's "No. 1 salesman" to boost exports.

"It appears that the approval rating has settled in the 40 percent range on a policy rally focused on the economy and livelihood matters," Bae Cheol-ho, a senior analyst at the pollster, said.

Bae said there is room for the figure to rise higher should the relationship between the presidential office and the ruling party normalise after a new party leader is selected in this week's national convention.

Yoon's People Power Party (PPP), which has been running under an emergency leadership system after former Chairman Lee Jun-seok was ousted, is set to pick a new leader at a national convention on Wednesday.

On the favourability rating of political parties, the PPP earned 44.3 per cent, up 2.1 percentage points from the previous week, while support for the main opposition Democratic Party fell 3.2 percentage points to 40.7 per cent.