President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating remained unchanged at 29 percent this week, her all-time low since taking office two years ago, a poll showed Friday.
In the weekly survey by Gallup Korea, Park’s approval rating dropped to 29 percent last week amid public backlash over the government’s revised tax settlement scheme.
In this week’s survey conducted on 1,003 adults between Tuesday and Thursday, the same percentage of people approved of Park’s job performance, while 62 percent disapproved, down 1 percentage point from last week.
“For the past three weeks, the approval rate for the president’s job performance has been at a standstill at the lowest levels since she took office,” Gallup said.
Of those who disapproved, 17 percent cited Park’s “uncommunicative” style of leadership, while 14 percent cited the new tax system and other indirect tax hikes, the survey showed.
The revised tax scheme was designed to collect less taxes throughout the year and provide smaller refunds during the annual tax settlements at the start of a new year.
However, some people with an annual income of less than 55 million won ($50,700) were found to be subject to extra taxes this year under the new scheme.
The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. (Yonhap)
