(MENAFN) South Korean President Lee Jae-myung saw his approval rating fall by 2.6 percentage points to 64.8% last week, compared to the final week of September, according to a new poll released Monday by local pollster Flower Research.

At the same time, public dissatisfaction with Lee’s handling of state affairs rose by 3.0 percentage points, reaching 34.6%, based on data from computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI).

The polling gap reflects the first data update since a pause during the Chuseok holiday, South Korea’s traditional Thanksgiving celebration, which led to the omission of surveys in the first week of October.

Despite the dip in the president’s numbers, his party made gains. Support for the ruling liberal Democratic Party climbed 1.9 percentage points to 53.3%, while the conservative opposition People Power Party increased by 1.5 percentage points to 29.0%.

Smaller political parties also held steady: the left-leaning Rebuilding Korea Party and rightist New Reform Party recorded support rates of 2.6% and 2.8%, respectively.

A separate automated response system (ARS) poll by Flower Research showed a sharper decline in Lee’s popularity. That survey found his approval rating had dropped 4.6 percentage points to 56.4%, compared to two weeks earlier.

Both surveys were conducted between Friday and Saturday. The CATI polled 1,011 voters, while the ARS surveyed 1,009, each with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

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