Analysis of Voting Reasons in the 21st Presidential Election

In the 21st presidential election, supporters of Lee Jae-myung cited 'military rule judgment' (27%) as their main reason for voting, while supporters of Kim Mun-soo pointed to 'morality' (33%).

Recently, Korea Gallup revealed that voters who cast their ballots for President Lee Jae-myung identified 'judgment of the military rule and termination of insurrection' as the most important reason for their vote.

This survey was conducted from the 4th to the 5th of the month with 1,003 eligible voters aged 18 and over nationwide, achieving a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.

Supporters of President Lee Jae-myung also mentioned 'job and administrative ability' (17%), 'economic expectations and economic policies' (15%), and 'better than other candidates' (13%) as reasons for their votes.

Conversely, supporters of former presidential candidate Kim Mun-soo placed 'morality and integrity' (33%) as their top reason, followed by 'dislike for Lee Jae-myung' (30%), and 'trustworthiness and honesty' (28%).

Voters who did not support President Lee Jae-myung cited 'judicial risk and criminal allegations' (30%) as their main reason. Other reasons mentioned included 'lack of trust, lies, and insincerity' (18%), 'lack of morality and self-interest' (14%), and 'past behavior and controversies' (6%).

Those who did not support former candidate Kim Mun-soo most frequently cited 'support for military rule and complicity in insurrection' (30%), as well as 'dislike for the People Power Party' (19%), 'lack of trust and lies,' and 'dislike for the candidate' (each 4%).

Korea Gallup analyzed the contrasts in perceptions, noting that there are many personal-related criticisms towards President Lee, while issues with former candidate Kim are more focused on his affiliated party.

The most referenced information in the decision-making process for voters was 'TV debates' (45%). Notably, 80% of voters for candidate Lee Jun-seok indicated that they relied on TV debates, while 40% of Lee Jae-myung's voters and 47% of Kim Mun-soo's voters also referred to them.

In this survey, former candidate Kim Mun-soo recorded a support rate of 38%, while former candidate Lee Jun-seok had a 9% support rate. Former candidate Kwon Young-guk of the Democratic Labor Party received 1%, with 7% opting to 'withhold opinion'.

This post-election survey was conducted via telephone interview with randomly selected virtual phone numbers, achieving a contact rate of 21.0% and a response rate of 12.3%.

A pre-election survey was also conducted in the same manner, with a contact rate of 25.6% and a response rate of 17.7%. For more details, please refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

Image sources: President Lee Jae-myung / News1, former presidential candidate Kim Mun-soo of the People Power Party / News1, Lee Jae-myung, Democratic Party presidential candidate (from left), Kwon Young-guk, Democratic Labor Party presidential candidate, Kim Mun-soo, People Power Party presidential candidate, and Lee Jun-seok, Reformist Party presidential candidate posing before the political TV debate held at MBC Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 27th. / News1