84% of Voters "Have Decided on a Candidate"
37% "Plan to Vote During Early Voting Period"
In the 6·3 presidential election, 8 out of 10 voters expressed their intention to "definitely vote."
On May 28, the National Election Commission announced that, according to the results of the second voter awareness survey conducted by Korea Gallup Research Institute on May 24-25 among 1,512 eligible voters aged 18 and older nationwide (with a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of ±2.5 percentage points), 86.8% of respondents indicated a strong intention to vote ("definitely vote"). This figure is similar to the 86.0% reported in the first voter awareness survey conducted by the commission on May 2-3.
The proportion of respondents expressing a strong intention to participate in this presidential election was not significantly different from that of the 20th presidential election three years ago. In the second survey during the 20th presidential election, 86.0% of respondents were classified as strong voters.
In the second survey, 9.5% of respondents said they would "vote if possible," while 1.8% answered they were "not very likely to vote," and 1.5% said they were "not likely to vote at all." The main reasons for not voting were "because there is no candidate or party I support" (42.9%), "because nothing will change even if I vote" (27.2%), "because I am not interested in politics" (18.1%), and "because I do not know much about the candidates or parties" (3.8%).
Compared to the first survey, the proportion of strong voters by age group increased by 0.9 to 3.4 percentage points in all age groups except those in their 30s. Among those in their 30s, the proportion of strong voters decreased by 3.8 percentage points, from 85.3% (first survey) to 81.5% (second survey).
The proportion of respondents who said they were "interested" in this election was 92.2%, similar to the first survey (91.9%). Overall interest in this presidential election was also similar to that of the 20th presidential election (89.9% in the first survey, 91.6% in the second survey).
Among respondents with an intention to vote, 37.4% said they would "vote during the early voting period." This is a decrease of 1.2 percentage points compared to the first survey. The main reasons for choosing early voting were "because early voting is convenient" (33.1%), "to vote in advance so I can take care of other matters on election day" (26.4%), and "due to unavoidable circumstances such as work or business trips" (14.2%).
Regarding candidate selection, 83.7% of respondents said they had "already decided" whom to vote for, while 16.0% said they "had not yet decided." The main factors considered when choosing a candidate were "competence and experience" (31.8%), "policies and pledges" (26.9%), "morality" (24.9%), and "affiliated party" (7.9%).
86.5% of respondents said they were aware of the candidates' policies and pledges. The most common sources of information for choosing a candidate were "TV interviews, debates, and broadcast speeches" (36.7%), followed by "video platforms such as YouTube" (20.2%), and "news articles and reports" (17.1%).
Regarding the sense of efficacy expected from voting in this presidential election, 82.4% agreed with the statement "the future of the entire country can change through the election," and 70.5% agreed with the statement "my daily life and quality of life can change through the election." Both figures were slightly lower than those in the first survey (84.9% and 73.1%, respectively).
The proportion of respondents who agreed that "my vote has an important impact on the election result" was 84.5%, similar to the 84.8% in the first survey.
The survey was conducted through telephone interviews (CATI). The sample consisted of 90.3% mobile phone virtual numbers and 9.7% landline RDD, with a response rate of 21.0%. More details can be found on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.
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