[AK Poll] "Yoon Seok-yeol Should Join People Power Party and Participate in Primary" 42%

Over 50% Support Party Entry Among Those Aged 60+ and in Yeongnam Region

80% of People Supporting the People Power Party Want to Join
Third-Party Competition Stands at 14%

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Public opinion shows a higher preference for Yoon Seok-yeol, former Prosecutor General, joining the People Power Party rather than pursuing a third-party path in his future political moves. Yoon is expected to declare his presidential candidacy on the 29th.

In this survey, 42.9% responded that Yoon should join the People Power Party and participate in the party's primary election. Only 14.1% believed that Yoon should compete as a unified opposition candidate in a third-party system without joining any party. The third-party scenario includes options such as unifying with Yoon at the last minute after the People Power Party's presidential candidate is decided or Yoon running independently straight to the general election.

Support for Yoon's entry into the People Power Party was mainly high in the Yeongnam region and among those aged 60 and above. By region, 54.2% in Daegu-Gyeongbuk and 55.3% in Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam supported his joining the People Power Party. In contrast, support was relatively low in Gangwon-Jeju at 23.9% and Gwangju-Jeolla at 29.6%. There were also differences by age group. A majority supported his entry among those in their 60s (54.0%) and those aged 70 and above (55.6%), but only 31.8% of those in their 40s agreed. Among People Power Party supporters, 8 out of 10 (80.4%) supported Yoon's entry. Supporters interpret that in the absence of a strong contender within the party, Yoon, who currently leads in opinion polls, joining would make regime change led by the People Power Party possible.

Regarding Yoon running as a presidential candidate itself, 35.1% responded that it was 'inappropriate.' Especially, 69.8% of Democratic Party supporters held this view. Since Yoon served as Prosecutor General under the Moon Jae-in administration and criticized the current government while mentioning his presidential run, it appears they did not recognize his legitimacy at all. On the other hand, only 4.6% of People Power Party supporters said his presidential run was inappropriate. Among those without a party affiliation or who did not know, the highest opinion was for Yoon joining the People Power Party at 36.3%, followed by 24.0% saying his presidential run was inappropriate, and 21.9% supporting third-party unification.

Meanwhile, this survey was conducted by Asia Economy through Win-G Korea Consulting targeting voters aged 18 and above nationwide from the 26th to 27th, with 1,009 respondents and an overall response rate of 8.5%. The survey method was 100% mobile ARS using virtual phone numbers, and the sample was extracted with weighted values by gender, age, and region based on the resident registration population as of the end of January 2021 from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (cell weighting). The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For detailed survey information, refer to the Win-G Korea Consulting website or the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

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