As the medical student increase policy continues to cause medical turmoil, surveys have begun to produce results showing that a majority of people believe the expansion policy should be redetermined.

According to an opinion poll of 1,001 adults nationwide from Monday to Wednesday, 52 percent of respondents said that the government should reconsider expanding the number of medical students after gathering opinions from the Korean Medical Association and experts.

The survey, conducted jointly by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, KRi, and Hankook Research, has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points.

Forty-one percent of respondents said that the medical school enrollment quota should be increased from next year as currently planned, with 8 percent making no response or saying they didn't know.

Support for the government's policy was higher among supporters of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), with 67 percent. In contrast, replies calling for reconsidering the expansion were higher among supporters of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), with 71 percent, and Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP), with 80 percent.

By age, except for people aged 18 to 29 and those aged 70 and older, more respondents said that the number of medical students should be redetermined rather than expanding as planned.

Notably, 60 percent of respondents in their 40s and 50s said the number of medical students should be redetermined. In contrast, 55 percent of those 70 and older said the current plan should be maintained. Among 18-29-year-olds, 45 percent said the number should be kept, one percentage point higher than those who said it should be redetermined (44 percent).

Regarding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s performance, 66 percent said Yoon is doing a poor job, up 3 percentage points from last month's survey (63 percent). Those who said he is doing a good job were 27 percent, the same as last month's survey. Sixty-six percent said they do not trust Yoon's handling of the state affairs, up 6 percentage points from last month's survey. Thirty-one percent said they trusted him.

Political party support was 27 percent for the PPP, 26 percent for the DPK, 12 percent for the RKP, 4 percent for the New Reform Party, and 1 percent for the Jinbo (Progressive) Party. The PPP's support dropped 4 percentage points from 31 percent in last month's survey, and that of the DPK also dropped 3 percentage points. In contrast, RKP’s support rate rose 3 percentage points.

Other polls have also confirmed the negative public opinion on the medical student increase policy.

According to a survey of 1,002 adults nationwide conducted by Gallup Korea from Aug. 27-29, 66 percent disapproved of Yoon's job performance, up 3 percentage points from the fourth week of August. Positive ratings fell 4 percentage points to 23 percent.

Notably, respondents who cited “expanding the number of medical students” as the reason for their negative evaluation jumped 6 percentage points from the previous survey to 8 percent. Fourteen percent cited economic, civil welfare, and price issues as the reason for their negative evaluation, followed by lack of communication at 8 percent, dogmatic and unilateral state administration at 8 percent, and overall poor performance at 7 percent.