President's Approval Rebound: Can We Trust It?

In Korea, multiple polling firms take turns publishing presidential approval ratings every weekday, Monday through Friday.

Regional approval ratings are seen swinging sharply, by 10 to 20 percentage points (p), within a single week. Critics say it is hard to believe the public mood actually shifted that much in such a short time. The host stressed not becoming overly preoccupied with poll results.

However, updates to that survey abruptly stopped after April, and its publication has been halted. Sudden discontinuation of a specific poll like this fuels doubts about its reliability.

Following the president's recent press conference, some reactions from progressive and undecided groups are being observed. There are concerns that progressive supporters may be underrepresented in the current poll respondent makeup.

The host explains that in election periods, progressives and conservatives tend to consolidate again, with gaps of around 45 to 45 or about 5%.

Because of measures such as blocking automated 070 spam calls, many are skeptical about the accuracy of general public polls today.

Directly hearing from 500 to 1,000 people on the ground in Honam regions such as Gwangju and Jeonju is argued to be a more effective way to grasp grassroots opinion accurately.