[AK Survey] Song Young-gil, Park Young-sun, Park Jumin... Competitive Race Among Democratic Party Seoul Mayoral Candidates

Poll on Democratic Party Candidate Suitability
Song Young-gil Leads with 19.4%, Close Race for 2nd Place
Park Young-sun 14.7%, Park Ju-min 9.7%, etc.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Various figures are emerging as potential candidates from the Democratic Party of Korea to challenge Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. Unlike the ruling People Power Party, where Mayor Oh is virtually running unopposed, the Democratic Party shows a close race in support ratings among candidates such as former party leader Song Young-gil, former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun, and Assemblyman Park Ju-min.

On the 6th, Asia Economy commissioned Realmeter to conduct a public opinion poll from April 4 to 5 targeting 1,015 men and women aged 18 and over residing in Seoul (90% mobile, 10% landline, automated response). When asked, "Who is the most suitable candidate for the next Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate?" former leader Song received 19.4% support, ranking first. Former Minister Park, who ran as the Democratic candidate in the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, followed with 14.7%, showing a close contest within the margin of error (a 4.7 percentage point gap) with Song. Next were Assemblyman Park Ju-min at 9.7%, Assemblyman Park Yong-jin at 8.6%, former Presidential Secretary Im Jong-seok at 5.9%, and former Assemblywoman Kim Jin-ae at 5.7%.

Other candidates accounted for 2.4%, and undecided voters made up 33.5% (no preference 26% + don't know 7.5%).

Mayor Oh's victory over former Minister Park, the Democratic candidate at the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, along with the People Power Party's presidential election win, appears to have influenced the concentration of support for Mayor Oh. This situation also reflects the Democratic Party's failure so far to present a candidate capable of defeating Mayor Oh and winning the election.

Within the Democratic Party's support base, former leader Song showed higher support at 31.8% compared to the overall respondents. Former Minister Park followed with 20.5%, and Assemblyman Park Ju-min with 15%. However, Assemblyman Park Yong-jin received 4.2%, lower than the overall response, placing him behind former Secretary Im (9.5%) and former Assemblywoman Kim (8.4%).

Among respondents who do not support President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol, a similar pattern was observed: former leader Song (30%), former Minister Park (20.5%), Assemblyman Park Ju-min (14.7%), former Secretary Im (8.9%), former Assemblywoman Kim (8.1%), and Assemblyman Park Yong-jin (5.4%).

By region, in the Gangbuk West area, former leader Song and former Minister Park both received equal support at 16.4%. By age group, there was a slight difference in the 20s (Song 18.1%, Park 17%) and 30s (Song 16.4%, Park 18.1%), but among those aged 60 and over, the gap widened to 13.7 percentage points.

This survey was conducted by Realmeter on behalf of Asia Economy over two days, April 4 and 5. Calls were attempted to 80,938 eligible voters aged 18 and over residing in Seoul, with 1,015 completing the survey, resulting in a response rate of 1.3%. The survey used an automated response method with 90% mobile and 10% landline calls, employing random digit dialing based on a randomly generated sampling frame. Statistical adjustments were made using rim weighting by gender, age group, and region based on the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's resident registration population statistics as of the end of March 2022. The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For detailed survey information, please refer to the Realmeter website or the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

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