June 1 Local Election Which Party Candidate Do You Support?..."People Power Party 38% vs. Democratic Party 26%"

"National Stability 53% vs Government Check 36%"

On the first day of official election campaigning for the 8th nationwide local elections on the 19th, promotional banners of candidates for Seoul mayor, district heads, and city council members are hung on the streets of Gwanak-gu, Seoul.
Photo by Asia Economy

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] In the upcoming June 1st 8th Nationwide Simultaneous Local Elections, public opinion favoring support for the ruling party to ensure national stability appears to outweigh the sentiment for government oversight.

According to the National Barometer Survey (NBS) conducted from the 16th to 18th by Embrain Public, K-stat Research, Korea Research, and Hankook Research, surveying 1,011 men and women aged 18 and older nationwide, 53% responded that "to ensure stable national governance, power should be given to the People Power Party."

On the other hand, 36% answered that "power should be given to the Democratic Party of Korea to check the new government."

The gap between the two responses is 17 percentage points. Compared to the previous survey conducted by the same organizations from the 2nd to 4th, the national stability argument rose by 1 percentage point, while the government oversight argument fell by 3 percentage points.

Additionally, when asked "which party's candidate do you support," 38% supported the People Power Party candidate, and 26% supported the Democratic Party candidate. Support for the People Power Party was 42%, while support for the Democratic Party was 30%, marking a 12 percentage point difference.

Compared to the previous survey, the People Power Party's support increased by 1 percentage point, while the Democratic Party's support remained unchanged.

Regarding President Yoon Suk-yeol's national governance evaluation, the positive view was higher. Positive evaluations of President Yoon's governance stood at 48%, which is 19 percentage points higher than negative evaluations (29%). Compared to the survey conducted from the 2nd to 4th before his inauguration, positive evaluations increased by only 2 percentage points, but negative evaluations significantly decreased by 20 percentage points.

Meanwhile, in this local election, 71% of respondents said they "will definitely vote," representing the active voting group; 21% said they "will vote if possible," representing the passive voting group; and 7% were identified as non-voters (those who "do not really" or "do not at all" intend to vote).

The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. It was conducted via telephone interviews using virtual phone numbers (100%) provided by the three major domestic telecommunications companies. For more details, please refer to the website of the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.