President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating edged down to 48.4 percent this week after rising for two consecutive weeks, a survey showed Monday. In the poll conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by EKN newspaper, the positive assessment of Lee's job performance fell 0.5 percentage point from a week before to 48.4 percent. The weekly survey was conducted on 2,007 people aged 18 and older from Monday to Thursday. Lee's approval rating stood at 46.5 percent in the last week of June before rising to 47 percent and 48.9 percent in the first and second weeks of July, respectively. His disapproval rating rose 0.3 percentage point to 48 percent. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. Realmeter said Lee's approval rating remained above 50 percent in the early parts of the week but declined toward the end of the week due to a series of negative factors, including the central bank's policy rate hike and a sharp stock market drop. Tensions within the ruling party over stripping the prosecution of supplementary investigation powers als