Kim`s public approval rating this year drops from 2000: Dong-a polls

President Kim Dae-Jung will mark the third anniversary of his presidential inauguration on Feb. 25 with a much lower public approval rating than he enjoyed just a year ago.

According to a survey of 1,000 men and women by Research & Research (R&R), The Dong-a Ilbo`s advisory research institute, 44.5 percent of respondents said they thought President Kim had done a good job during his three years in office. Roughly 46.8 percent of those polled disapproved of his performance.

The figures represent a drop from the results of Dong-a Ilbo-R&R surveys conducted on the first and second anniversaries of Kim`s presidential inauguration. In those polls, 81.9 percent and 73.7 percent of those surveyed, respectively, approved of the president`s job performance.

In the latest poll, only 39.3 percent of survey respondents said the nation would be better off at the end of Kim`s term than today, whereas 10.7 percent gave the opposite response. Meanwhile, 45.7 percent of respondents said there would be little difference.

Asked whether they favored the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) or main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) to win the next presidential election, 32.1 percent favored the MDP and 26.5 percent backed the GNP.

However, the number of respondents who forecast that the ruling MDP would retain power was smaller at 27.3 percent than those who predicted a GNP victory (43.2 percent). Of those who supported an MDP triumph in the next election, 20.7 percent supported the candidacy of Rhee In-Je, an MDP supreme council member, 5.3 percent backed Maritime Affairs-Fisheries Minister Roh Moo-Hyun, 2.6 percent favored MDP chairman Kim Joong-Kwon and 2.5 percent supported Seoul City Mayor Goh Kun. Of those who favored a GNP election victory, 45.3 percent backed GNP president Lee Hoi-Chang.

If one of Rhee, Roh and Kim of the MDP was pitted against Lee of the GNP, the survey showed that Rhee would defeat Lee by a voter margin of 38.5 percent to 35.9 percent and Roh would edge Lee by 36.5 percent to 35.4 percent. The poll suggested that Kim would triumph over Lee by a margin of 34.9 percent to 28.5 percent.

Na Sun-Mi sunny60@donga.com