[AKYUNG Poll] Park Young-sun Leads Ruling Party... Half of Seoul Citizens 'No Support/Don't Know' Variable

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups attended the '1st Innovation Growth BIG3 Promotion Meeting' held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 21st, wearing a mask with the phrase promoting 'K-MAS Live Market.' Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] In a suitability survey for the ruling coalition's Seoul mayoral candidates, Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, recorded an overwhelming first place. However, the fact that about half of Seoul citizens have not yet chosen their preferred candidate remains a variable.

When asked "Who do you think is the most suitable candidate for the ruling coalition?" 18.5% chose Minister Park. She was followed by Park Joo-min, Democratic Party lawmaker (9.6%), Woo Sang-ho, Democratic Party lawmaker (8.5%), and Kim Jin-ae, Floor Leader of the Open Democratic Party (6.1%). Even assuming a party primary, Minister Park's lead was anticipated. Among Democratic Party supporters, 35.6% preferred Minister Park, ahead of lawmaker Park (18.1%), lawmaker Woo (12.9%), and Floor Leader Kim (8.2%). Compared to the results of a survey commissioned by this publication to Win-G Korea in November last year, Minister Park's lead has become more certain. At that time, Minister Park's preference rate was 13.6%, followed by lawmaker Park (10.3%) and Woo Sang-ho, Democratic Party lawmaker (4.5%).

Supporters of the Justice Party, classified as a ruling coalition party, also preferred Minister Park (21.3%) the most, similar to Democratic Party supporters. However, among Open Democratic Party supporters, 33.7% chose Floor Leader Kim, ahead of Minister Park (27.8%). They also preferred lawmaker Woo (15.2%) over lawmaker Park (12.1%). The last-minute variable to the "Minister Park's dominant theory" is analyzed to be the undecided voters. Among the Seoul citizens who responded to the survey, 47.3% answered "none/don't know" regarding the most suitable ruling coalition candidate for Seoul mayor.

Meanwhile, this survey was conducted on June 2-3 among voters aged 18 and over residing in Seoul, with an overall response rate of 6.7%, totaling 1,006 respondents. The survey method was 100% wireless ARS using virtual mobile phone numbers. The sample was extracted with weighted values (cell weighting) by gender, age, and region based on the resident registration population as of the end of November 2020 from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For detailed survey information, please refer to the Win-G Korea Consulting website or the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.