'Hwaseong-si Eul 3-Way Race' Gong Young-woon 44.7%... Lee Jun-seok 29.1% · Han Jeong-min 20.2%

A public opinion poll revealed that in the 4·10 general election for the Gyeonggi Hwaseong constituency, Democratic Party candidate Gong Young-woon is leading the other two candidates by a margin beyond the margin of error. However, the gap with the second-place candidate, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform New Party, is narrowing.

According to the survey conducted by KOPRA, a professional polling agency commissioned by Kihosoilbo, targeting 503 local voters in Hwaseong over two days from the 31st of last month to the 1st of this month, Democratic Party candidate Gong’s support rate was 44.7%, Lee Jun-seok of the Reform New Party 29.1%, and Han Jeong-min of the People Power Party 20.2%.

Candidate Gong recorded support rates of 55.7% among those in their 40s and 50.7% among those in their 50s. Candidate Lee Jun-seok showed 40.3% support among those in their 30s and 38.3% among those aged 18 to 29. Candidate Han Jeong-min showed 43.4% and 60.8% support among those in their 60s and those aged 70 and above, respectively.

For proportional representation party support rates, the Party for National Innovation led with 32.7%, followed by the People’s Future Party at 21.2%, the Democratic Alliance at 16.3%, the Reform New Party at 15.0%, the Free Unification Party at 3.2%, the Green Justice Party at 2.5%, and the New Future Party at 1.4%.

This survey was conducted using an automated response system (ARS) via landline (10%) and mobile phones (90%). The selection method for respondents involved virtual mobile phone numbers provided by telecom companies and random digit dialing (RDD) for landlines within the electoral district. The sample size was 503 (out of 11,719 call attempts, with a response rate of 4.3%), and the margin of error was ±4.4 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more detailed information, please refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

(From left) Candidate Gong Yeong-un of the Democratic Party of Korea for Hwaseong in the 22nd general election, Candidate Han Jeong-min of the People Power Party, Candidate Lee Jun-seok of the Reform New Party

Gong Young-woon VS Lee Jun-seok: Narrowing Gap

The gap between candidate Gong and candidate Lee has been gradually narrowing in recent polls. Gong’s support slightly declined from the high 40% range to the mid-40% range, while Lee’s support rose from the mid-20% range to the high 20% range.

This trend is analyzed to be due to recent controversies surrounding candidate Gong, who gifted real estate worth several hundred million won in Seoul’s Seongsu-dong area to his son during his military service and financially supported his daughter’s purchase of an apartment in the same area, sparking a “Dad’s chance” controversy.

In a three-way debate among Hwaseong candidates on the previous day’s CBS Radio program ‘Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show,’ candidate Lee criticized Gong’s daughter’s real estate ownership, saying, “It’s a 2.2 billion won house, but they lived there as a dual-income couple for nine years, taking out a 1 billion won loan and even using a jeonse (key money deposit) lease. This is what is called ‘all-in’ and gap investment.”

However, candidate Gong rebutted on his social media, stating, “My daughter and her husband purchased an apartment close to their workplace in line with the expiration of their jeonse lease and are currently residing there. They went through legal and transparent procedures, including loans from first-tier financial institutions. They have never owned a house while still under a jeonse lease, nor have they invested in housing for purposes other than actual residence.”

He added, “Indiscriminate negative campaigning that digs into not only the candidate but also the family’s personal matters to overcome electoral disadvantages has ultimately led to false information being spread. We will respond strictly to actions that undermine the fairness of the election.”

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