'Must Vote' 77% of People in Their 40s, Up 14%p... 83% of Those Aged 60 and Over

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] According to a survey conducted by the National Election Commission, 73% of voters expressed a strong intention to vote actively.

The Election Commission announced on the 2nd that, according to the public opinion survey on interest in the National Assembly election and intention to participate in voting, 8 out of 10 voters (81.2%) showed interest in this election, and 7 out of 10 (72.7%) responded that they would "definitely vote."

The response rate indicating interest increased by 10.4 percentage points compared to the survey conducted four years ago before the 20th general election (70.8%). The percentage of those who responded that they would "definitely vote" by age group was 52.8% for ages 18-29, 71.3% for those in their 30s, 77.0% for their 40s, 73.8% for their 50s, 83.8% for their 60s, and 82.5% for those aged 70 and above.

Compared to four years ago, the group with a strong intention to participate in voting increased by 8.8 percentage points. It rose in most age groups, with the 18-29 age group remaining at the previous election level.

Those who responded that they would "vote if possible" accounted for 20.9%. The total percentage of people intending to participate in voting reached 93.6%. Among voters who intend to participate, 26.7% responded that they would vote on the early voting day, which is an increase of 12.7 percentage points.

When considering factors in choosing a candidate, "personality/ability" was the highest at 29.8%, followed closely by "policy/pledge" at 29.7%, and "affiliated party" at 29.0%. Other factors included "political experience" (3.1%) and "evaluation by acquaintances" (2.7%).

Regarding considerations when deciding on a party in proportional representation elections, "party's stance/policy" was 26.7%, "same party as supported candidate" was 25.7%, and "candidate's personality/ability" was 21.3%, followed by "party ideology" (17.8%).

The main sources of information when selecting candidates were found to be "internet portals, homepages, etc." (43.4%) and "TV" (30.9%). Regarding the lowering of the voting age to 18 due to amendments in the Public Official Election Act, 87.4% responded that they were aware, and 60.2% were aware that a semi-proportional representation system was introduced as the method for allocating proportional representation seats.

When asked about the sense of efficacy expected from voting, 74.7% of voters agreed with the statement "My one vote has an important impact on the election results," 65.8% agreed that "The future of the entire country can change through elections," and 51.7% agreed that "My daily life and quality of life can change through elections."

Regarding the atmosphere of the election, the evaluation "clean" (49.8%) was higher than "not clean" (32.3%). The main reasons cited for the election not being clean were "unfair reporting by media organizations" (29.0%) and "mutual slander and black propaganda by parties and candidates" (27.2%).

The Election Commission stated, "Despite issues caused by COVID-19, interest in the election is 10.4 percentage points higher than in the 20th National Assembly election. We will focus on providing voters with the necessary information to exercise their sovereignty through the National Election Commission website (Election Statistics System, Policy Pledge Informer) and the 'Election Information' mobile app, and we will make every effort to ensure that citizens can safely exercise their precious voting rights."

This survey was commissioned by the National Election Commission to Gallup Korea and conducted via telephone interviews (CATI) over two days, March 23 and 24, targeting 1,500 voters aged 18 and older nationwide. The sample frame was conducted using RDD for both landline and mobile phones, with a response rate of 15.0%, a sampling error of ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and weighted by gender, age, and region (based on the resident registration population as of the end of February from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety). Detailed information can be found on the National Public Opinion Deliberation Commission website.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.