President Park Geun-hye’s job approval rating plunged by 13 percentage points on her home turf over a controversial remark on the upcoming general elections, a poll showed Monday.
A poll released by polling agency Realmeter showed 57.5 percent of people in Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province approved of the job Park is doing, down from 70.5 percent a week earlier.
The result followed Park’s remark made during a regular Cabinet meeting last week urging the public to vote for “sincere politicians,” as a group of her aides seeks to run in April’s general elections in her hometown of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province.
The remark triggered controversy that she violated her duty to remain politically neutral on elections, with some interpreting the comment as a warning to the current anti-Park lawmakers of the party in the region.
The percentage throughout the country remained similar from a week earlier at 45.6 percent, down 0.4 percentage point.
Separately, 21.8 percent supported Kim Moo-sung, head of the ruling Saenuri Party, in a potential presidential race. Moon Jae-in, leader of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy received 17.1 percent of support, down 1.1 percentage points from last week.
The survey was conducted on 2,617 adults from Nov. 9-13 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points. (Yonhap)
