Favorable ratings in election constituencies: DPK 45.5 vs. PPP 34.7

Asked, “Let’s say you are voting today. Tell us whom you’d like to vote for among candidates of the following parties in your constituency,” 45.5 percent of respondents in a poll chose candidates of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. In comparison, 34.7 percent supported those of the ruling People Power Party, showing a gap of 10.8 percentage points outside of the margin of error (plus or minus 3.1 percent). Around 42.5 percent agreed that the main opposition’s candidates should be elected to keep the government in check, whereas 33.4 percent were supportive of the ruling party’s candidates for the sake of stable governance – with a gap of 9.1 percentage points.

The results came out on Sunday in a census of 1,004 adults across the country done on Thursday and Friday by Research & Research commissioned by The Dong-A Ilbo in celebration of its 104th anniversary. In this poll regarding candidates in local constituencies, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (49.5 percent) surpassed the ruling People Power Party (32.6 percent) by a margin of 16.9 percentage points in Seoul, the most influential region (48 seats) in the upcoming April 10 general elections. The former (45.7 percent) was ahead of the latter (33.1 percent) by 12.6 percentage points in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon to which the largest number of seats (74) is assigned. In Daejeon, Sejong, and the Chungcheong provinces, with a casting vote in the previous general elections – 28 seats combined, the gap between the main opposition and the ruling party was 10.1 percentage points, with the former and the latter earning 45.9 percent and 35.8 percent, respectively. In Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province around the “Nakdong River Belt,” a hard-fought battlefield, the PPP (46 percent) exceeded its competition (34.9 percent) by 11.1 percentage points.

As for proportional representation, the People Future Party, the National Innovation Party, and the Democratic Union of Korea earned 29.8 percent, 24 percent, and 20.6 percent, respectively. The People Future Party was overtaken by the two latter parties, which combined to account for 44.6 percent.

Asked about the government’s move to increase medical school admission seats, 57.2 percent agreed with the idea in general but requested an arbitration solution that reconsiders the scale of expansion and its timeline. With 8.3 percent against the expansion plan, 28.5 percent stuck to the government’s expansion proposal to add 2,000 more seats. The government’s price controls were acclaimed by 21.1 percent, leaving 69.8 percent dissatisfied. This census was carried out completely through interviews based on mobile RDD samples, having a 95-percent confidence level with a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and a response rate of 9.3 percent.


Jun-Il Kim jikim@donga.com