SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating dropped to 46.3 percent this week, a poll showed Monday, marking its second straight weekly decline.

In the poll conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by the EKN newspaper, the positive assessment of Lee's job performance fell 2.1 percentage points from a week before, while his negative assessment rose 1.5 percentage points to 49.5 percent.

Realmeter attributed the decline to a controversy surrounding the sale of Lee's apartment and his remarks suggesting higher property holding taxes, as well as a sharp drop in the stock market.

Lee recently faced backlash after records showed that the buyers of his apartment in Seongnam, south of Seoul, paid only part of the purchase price upfront, with Lee and his wife effectively loaning the unpaid portion to the buyers until the balance is paid.

He also hinted at the possibility of raising property holding taxes to help stabilize runaway housing prices at a public discussion on real estate policy last week, insisting there was broad consensus.

The weekly survey, conducted on 2,505 people aged 18 and older from Monday to Friday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster, support for the ruling Democratic Party fell 1.8 percentage points from a week earlier to 41.3 percent, while support for the main opposition People Power Party rose 0.6 percentage point to 40.6 percent.

The poll, conducted on 1,001 individuals aged 18 and over Thursday and Friday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

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