President Lee Jae Myung's job approval rating for the fifth week of July rose by 1.8 percentage points to 63.3 percent, a poll by Realmeter showed Monday.
The recovery -- which reversed more than half the decline seen in the two previous weeks -- followed Seoul's announcement Thursday of a reduction in new US tariffs on South Korean goods, including cars, from 25 percent to 15 percent in return for a $450 billion spending package to invest in the US and buy US liquefied natural gas.
The latest poll was conducted among 2,520 people across the country aged 18 or older.
Lee's approval rating was consistent with a separate poll, also released by Realmeter on Monday, showing that 63.9 percent of 1,016 respondents viewed the tariff deal struck between Seoul and Washington favorably, while 32.3 percent viewed the deal unfavorably.
The biggest achievement of the trade deal, according to 23.8 percent of respondents, was the reduction in the "reciprocal" tariff on Korean goods to 15 percent and the conferring of most-favored-nation status for sector-specific tariffs. Slightly fewer people -- 23.2 percent -- said the greatest achievement was preventing a further opening of South Korean markets to US beef or rice.
Also driving the increase in Lee's popularity for the final week of July were the president's emergency response to the heat wave that gripped the country and his administration's strong stance against workplace accidents.
The upswing was somewhat offset by disappointment over the proposed tax code changes aimed mainly at stock investors, according to Realmeter. Of all respondents, 31.4 percent disapproved of Lee's job performance in the fifth week of July, down 1.6 percentage points.
Lee's approval rating has now stayed above the 60 percent mark for five straight weeks, according to Realmeter's estimate.
On Friday, a separate survey by Gallup Korea showed a similar rise in the fifth week of July, with Lee's popularity climbing 1 percentage point to 64 percent.
Realmeter also reported Monday that support for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea had surged 3.7 percentage points to 54.5 percent.
Realmeter attributed the party's rise in popularity to the president's "stable management of state affairs," coupled with the "spillover effect" caused by the special counsel's probe into Lee's conservative predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee. The main opposition People Power Party saw its support rating decline by 1.8 percentage points to 27.2 percent in the final week of July.
consnow@heraldcorp.com
