From the Presidential Election to Local Elections... People Tormented by Polling Calls

1601 Opinion Polls Conducted This Year... Already Surpassing Last Year's 1009
Difficulty Gauging Public Sentiment On-site Due To COVID-19
Citizens Expressing Fatigue

On the first day of official election campaigning for the 8th nationwide local elections on the 19th, promotional banners of candidates are hung on the streets of Gwanak-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Office worker A (29), who planned to rest over the weekend, was continuously bothered by phone calls. The calls were asking about public opinion related to the local elections. Although A hung up every time, the constant ringing prevented proper rest. A said, "From the presidential election to the local elections, I've been stressed all year by public opinion survey calls."

With the local elections approaching shortly after the presidential election, citizens are being plagued by public opinion survey calls. Most calls come to mobile phones, further disrupting daily life.

According to the National Election Commission on the 22nd, 441 public opinion surveys have been registered this month alone. This means about 20.05 surveys are conducted nationwide daily. Most of these surveys are related to the local elections scheduled for June 1.

The enthusiasm from the 20th presidential election is continuing into the local elections. A total of 1,131 public opinion surveys were conducted during the 20th presidential election, about twice the 594 surveys conducted during the 19th presidential election. This year alone, 1,601 surveys have been conducted, already surpassing the 1,009 surveys conducted throughout last year.

The number of public opinion survey organizations is also increasing. New registrations of survey organizations, which were only seven in 2019, rose to 11 in 2020 and 14 last year. The net increase in survey organizations was zero in 2019 and 2020 but reached five last year.

There are several reasons for the increase in public opinion surveys, with COVID-19 being a representative cause. Due to COVID-19, people have avoided going out, making it difficult to rely solely on on-site public sentiment. Additionally, public response to surveys has grown as survey technology has advanced, increasing the accuracy of predictions. In fact, during the 20th presidential election, survey organizations Realmeter, Research View, and Korea Gallup all predicted President Yoon Seok-yeol's victory, albeit with some margin differences.

However, citizens are expressing fatigue over the increasing number of surveys. Since the Public Official Election Act guarantees free public opinion surveys under certain conditions, there seems to be no appropriate way to restrict them. Especially as survey organizations have raised the mobile phone ratio to nearly 90%, more surveys are directed to cell phones. University student B (26) said, "I am studying for employment, but the survey calls come too frequently and disturb me," adding, "When studying, I either turn off my phone completely or share methods with friends to avoid answering survey calls."