Opinion Poll Shows Pro-President Uri Party Well Ahead of Rivals


By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter


President Roh Moo-hyun’s approval rating stands at 37.7 percent as of Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. That marks a significant drop from sky-high 75.1 percent he enjoyed when he took office last February but is actually the same level as six months ago.

Despite his low approval rating, almost half of those surveyed in a recent opinion poll conducted by the Korea Times and Hankook Ilbo said they would support him if a confidence vote was held today. And, with only 50 days to go before the April general elections, the pro-government Uri Party remains the most popular political party. Roh has not joined the Uri Party yet, but most observers think that it is only a matter of time.

Together with the internal disputes that are tearing apart Uri Party rivals, this may mean that the outcome of the April elections could turn out to be close to what Roh is hoping for. Roh had said that he wanted to see the upcoming elections as a two-way race pitting the Uri Party against the conservatives. Uri Party’s chairman, Chung Dong-young, said that his party intended to win at least 100 out of a total of 273 seats, a vow that sounds more plausible now than before.

According to the opinion poll, which surveyed 1,000 adults, nearly six in 10 said that fixing the economy should be Roh’s top priority. The margin of error is plus and minus 3.1 percent.

In connection with the ongoing political reform, about one quarter expressed approval, making it perhaps his biggest political achievement.

The pro-government Uri Party topped the list with about 25 percent supporting it. About 16 percent expressed support for the Grand National Party (GNP), which currently holds a majority of the seats in the Assembly. The Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) attracted 11 percent support.

Uri’s popularity is largely attributed to power struggles engulfing the bigger parties, leading perspective voters to choose the smallest among the three as an alternative.

Roh is still enjoying positive numbers from those who had backed him during his presidential election campaign last year. They are: those in their 20s (44 percent), blue-collar workers (51 percent), university students (48 percent), residents in Chungchong Province (47 percent percent), people in Cholla Province (50 percent ) and the pro-government Uri Party supporters (66 percent).

However, his negatives came from self-employed businessmen (64 percent) and housewives (62 percent). It is speculated that these two groups were some of those hardest hit by the economic hardship last year. Inchon and Kyonggi Province residents (63 percent) and backers of the main opposition Grand National Party (79 percent) also gave Roh poor grades on his performance.

im@koreatimes.co.kr