The Democratic Party and People Power Party are evenly split on Seoul and Busan by-election nominations... Approval ratings: Democratic 36%, People Power 20% [NBS]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Regarding the Democratic Party's nomination decision for the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, it was found that public opinion slightly favors the party fielding candidates over opposing it.

According to the 1st week of November National Barometer Survey (NBS) conducted by four polling specialists?Embrain Public, K-Stat Research, Korea Research, and Hankook Research?from November 5 to 7, surveying 1,002 men and women nationwide aged 18 and over, 44% responded that "since these are important elections, candidates should be fielded" for the Democratic Party's nomination in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections. The response "candidates should not be fielded because the party is responsible for the by-elections" was 42%, 2 percentage points lower. "Don't know/no response" accounted for 14%.

Responses sharply diverged according to party support. Among Democratic Party supporters, 70% agreed with fielding candidates, whereas 80% of People Power Party supporters opposed it. Among non-partisan respondents, opposition was 45%, higher than support at 28%.

By ideological inclination, both progressives and conservatives recorded equal support and opposition at 67%. Among centrists, support was 40% and opposition 44%.

In party support surveys, the Democratic Party led the People Power Party beyond the margin of error. The Democratic Party recorded 36%, up 1 percentage point from the previous survey, while the People Power Party dropped 1 percentage point to 20%. The gap between the two parties was 16 percentage points. The Justice Party recorded 7%, and the People Party and Open Democratic Party each recorded 4%.

President Moon Jae-in's approval rating for state administration rose 1 percentage point to 50% compared to the previous survey. Negative evaluations also rose 1 percentage point to 44%.

This survey was conducted from November 5 to 7 with 1,002 adult men and women, with a response rate of 23.5%. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Detailed information about the survey can be found on the NBS website and the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.