Lee's approval rating hits new low of 37.4%: poll

President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating has plummeted to a record low of 37.4%, according to a new poll. This marks the eighth consecutive week of decline for the president. The poll, conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by the EKN newspaper, surveyed 2,510 adults over a five-day period. Lee's approval rating dropped 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous week, while his disapproval rating increased by 0.8 percentage points to 59.5%.

The poll attributed the decline to the recent Cabinet reshuffle and the government's decision to abandon plans to lower the basic deduction for single-home owners who do not reside in the property. Lee's appointment of Rep. Kim Seung-won as the new justice minister has sparked criticism from the main opposition party, which contends that the move was meant to ease criminal charges against the president.

The survey's margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. A separate poll by the same firm showed a 1.3 percentage point decline in support for the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) compared to the previous week.