President Yoon Suk Yeol prays before the event at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, Nov. 22. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating has plunged to 17.3 percent, the lowest level since he took office in 2022, a poll showed Monday.

The survey, conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, showed a whopping 7.7 percentage-point drop in positive responses toward Yoon's performance compared to the previous week, following his abrupt declaration of martial law last Tuesday.

Negative assessment of Yoon rose by 8.2 percentage points to a record high of 79.2 percent.

The survey, conducted from Thursday to Friday last week on 1,012 adults, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 percent.

In a separate survey conducted by the same pollster on 1,012 individuals aged 18 and over Thursday and Friday, the approval ratings of the ruling People Power Party fell 6.1 percentage points to 26.2 percent, while the figure for the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea rose 2.4 percentage point to 47.6 percent.

The gap in approval ratings between the rival parties came to 21.4 percentage points, marking the highest since the Yoon government took office, according to Realmeter.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, with a confidence rate of 95 percent. (Yonhap)