Expanding on the Approval issue on new core worlds, it appears that the first citizen does not get the bonuses associated with your civilization.
The first screen snapshot below shows the breakdown of the Approval of my first citizen on a new core world.
The second screen snapshot below shows the breakdown of the Approval of my second citizen on that same world. Note that it is getting +50% for being Yor and another +10% for being Synthetic. Neither of those appear for the first citizen.
This makes it very difficult to get new core worlds going since both Manufacturing and Research are affected by the Approval of the citizens on that world. I recommend making a fix for this a high priority since it has such a large impact on the game.