Survey Results of Popularity in the Local Elections ...

As of May 26, since two days left to go before the local elections candidate registration and the official start of the elections campaigning, the gubernatorial and mayoral elections of four regions including Seoul, Kyounggi Province, Daejeon, and Cheju Province have been locked in neck-to-neck battle between the two dominant candidates in each region within the range of 0.8 to 3.5 percent points, which is within the error rate of public opinion surveys.

Additionally, the Grand National Party (GNP) showed dominance in seven regions such as Busan, Daegu, North and South Kyungbuk Provinces, Incheon, Kangwon, North Chungcheong Province, and the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) dominated three regions including Kwangju, North and South Cheolla Provinces. The United Liberal Democrats (ULD) showed strength in South Chungcheong Province, and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) received a strong popular support in Ulsan. These were popularity survey results on candidates running for the positions of local governments` head. The survey has conducted for two days, May 24 and 25, by Dong-a Ilbo and the Korea Research Center (KRC) with a sample of a total 9,217 voters in sixteen provinces and cities.

In Seoul, the gap of the popularity between MDP candidate Kim Min-Seok (favored by 33.9 percent of the surveyed voters) and GNP candidate Lee Myung-Park (favored by 32.1 percent) was a 1.8 percent points. In Kyounggi Province, the difference between GNP candidate Sohn Hak-Kyu (favored by 26.1 percent) and MDP candidate Jin Nyum (favored by 25.2 percent) showed a mere 0.9 percent points.

In Daejeon, GNP candidate Yeom Hong-Cheol (favored by 25.8 percent) advanced 3.5 percent points to ULD candidate Hong Sun-Ki (favored by 22.3 percent). Likewise, in Cheju Province, MDP candidate Woo Geun-Min (favored by 31.7%) is favored by a mere 0.8 percent points to GNP candidate Shin Ku-Bum (favored by 30.9 percent).

In Kyungsang regions, GNP candidates all dominated Busan, Daegu, North and South Kyungsang Provinces, except Ulsan where DLP candidate Song Cheol-Ho is a frontrunner with 38.8 percent of the voters surveyed favoring him.

The national average of the voters who responded they would vote in the local elections was 57.3 percent. Voters in South Cheolla Province, Kangwon, Cheju, and South Chungcheong showed more willingness to cast votes in the local elections than voters in Daejeon, Kyunggi Province, Kwangju, and North Kyungsang Province.

sunny60@donga.com