SEOUL, June 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating stayed at a higher level compared with his predecessors despite controversies over cabinet member nominees.
According to the Gallup Korea poll released Friday, Moon garnered 79 percent in support scores this week. It was down 4 percentage points from the previous week, falling below 80 percent for the first time since he took office on May 10.
The pollster said that compared with Moon's predecessors, the incumbent president maintained the very high level of approval rating around 80 percent.
The result was based on a survey of 1,004 voters conducted from Tuesday to Thursday. It has 3.1 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.
Moon's supporters picked his efforts to communicate with people as the biggest reason for their support, but the non-supporters cited controversy over cabinet member nominees for their negative assessment.
Some of the cabinet member nominees were denounced by opposition parties in the parliamentary confirmation hearing for their suspected involvement in irregularities including false address registration for educational purposes.
The justice minister nominee resigned over his illegal registration of marriage without the consent of then girlfriend. The court nullified the marriage later.
Support for the ruling Democratic Party ranked first with 50 percent. The Liberty Korea Party gained 9 percent of support, followed by the centrist People's Party, the minor conservative Righteous Party and the minor progressive Justice Party, all of which won 7 percent in approval scores.
