• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.5-40
• /
• 2021

This study attempts to analyze gender gaps in voter turnout for three different types of elections held since 2017 at the aggregate level using the Central Election Management Commission's turnout data, paying attention to the importance of women's voting. The findings are as follows. First, modern gender gaps in voter turnout at the aggregate level are confirmed in most regions regardless of election types. Second, the gender gap in turnout varies with age. The gender difference is verified in the "widowhood effect," where turnout decreases in the oldest-old. In the new voter group, modern gender gaps appear in most regions. The reversed gender difference in turnout in the late 20s, which reflects the Korean society's characteristics, is confirmed in all elections. Third, it is unclear whether the reverse gender gap in turnout becomes more pronounced in urbanized districts. As urbanization progressed, modern gender differences in voter turnout across age groups are observed at the population-based size level. Paradoxically, the modern gender gap tends to be weak and turns into the traditional gender gap in younger age groups (in the late thirties) in Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu, the most modernized districts in Seoul. These results show that the modern gender gap in turnout is now a common phenomenon and continues to be strengthened by newly recruited voters in Korea. Thus we should pay more attention to female voters' political behavior and a new approach beyond the developmental theory to understand the causal mechanism to generate the modern gender gap in voter turnout.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
• /
• v.12 no.12
• /
• pp.25-33
• /
• 2021

Purpose: This paper estimates the impact of the epidemic crisis on election outcomes through investigating the effect of Covid19 crisis on election results of 21st General Election held in April 15th 2020 in Korea. Research design, data and methodology: This study employs Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method using district-level data from Seoul and Gyeonggi province available at National election data in Korea. Results: Despite the current crisis in Korea, Covid-19 has had positive effects on voter turnout on average, after controlling for other factors. On the other hand, the effect of Covid-19 on the voter turnout was negative in districts with a larger aging population and higher health insurance premiums. In addition, Covid-19 negatively impacted vote shares for the incumbent party, while its rival party saw gains in their votes. Conclusion: The effect of Covid-19 election outcomes in Korea is distinct from other countries due to the nationwide acknowledgment of the Korean government's achievement in managing the epidemic. This implies that the crisis management ability of a government is crucial in gaining support for an incumbent party in future elections. Countries facing upcoming elections need to implement acceptable Covid-19 restriction policies as well as economic support for compensation to reap similar benefits.

• Journal of the Korean Data Analysis Society
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.2873-2881
• /
• 2018

It is very important to obtain objective and credible information through election polls in order to contribute to the correct voting behavior of the voters or to establish appropriate election strategies for candidates or political parties. Therefore, many related organizations such as political parties, media organizations, and research institutions have been making efforts to improve the accuracy of the results of the polls and the election prediction. Kim et al. (2017) analyzed whether the non-response group responded that there is no support candidate in the election survey to increase the accuracy of the estimation of the vote rate. As a result, it has been confirmed that the accuracy of the estimation of the vote rate can be significantly improved by performing an appropriate classification on the non-response layer. In this study, we propose a method to estimate the turnout by each strata (sex, age group) under the condition that the total turnout rate is given for a specific district (region) and propose a procedure to predict the vote rate by reflecting the turnout. In addition, case studies were conducted using data gathered through telephone interviews for the 20th National Assembly elections in 2016.

• SUVANNABHUMI
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.149-174
• /
• 2018

Southeast Asians participate in elections eagerly, a fact indexed by the high electoral participation rates across a range of political conditions in the region. What gives elections in Southeast Asia such high legitimacy? Using data from Indonesia and the Philippines, this article emphasizes the need to understand peoples' rationalities, which are informed by meanings generated by prevailing cultural practices. From this perspective, electoralism can be understood as a cultural phenomenon that conforms to the structure of a ritual. Despite the democratic deficit in many electoral exercises, elections share the attractiveness and fun of traditional community festivities. Voters participate in elections as a testament to membership in a community. Although they do not always transform the existing social arrangements, elections embed contradictory impulses in the same way that cockfights do. A procedure of formal democracy authored elsewhere, electoralism has been localized in Southeast Asia and invested with indigenous significance.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.113-140
• /
• 2020

This study is meaningful in that it is the first analysis of Korean elections using the concept of spatial autocorrelation. Spatial autocorrelation means that an event occurring in one location in space has a high correlation with an event occurring in the surrounding area. The voter turnout rate in the 21^st general election of Seoul area was divided into the early-voting turnout and voting-day turnout, and the spatial pattern of the turnout was examined. Most of the previous studies were based on the unit of the precinct and personal data, but this study analyzed on the basis of the lower unit, Eup-myeon-dong, and analyzed using spatial data and aggregate data. Moran I index showed a fairly high spatial autocorrelation of 0.261 in the voting-day turnout, while the index of the early-voting turnout was low at 0.095, indicating that there was little spatial autocorrelation despite statistical significance. The voting-day turnout, which showed strong spatial autocorrelation, was compared and analyzed using the OLS regression model and the spatial statistics model. In the general regression model, the coefficient of determination R² rose from 0.585261 to 0.656631 in the spatial error model, showing an increase in explanatory power of about 7 percentage points. This means that the spatial statistical model has high explanatory power. The most interesting result is the relationship between the early-voting turnout and the voting-day turnout. The higher the early-voting turnout is, the lower the voting-day turnout is. When the early-voing turnout increases by about 2%, the voting-day turnout drops by about 1%. In this study, the variables affecting the early-voting turnout and the voting-day turnout are very different. This finding is different from the previous researches.

• Journal of Urban Science
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.41-49
• /
• 2020

This study analyzed the factors affecting economic growth using multiple regression model and Geographically Weighted Regression in consideration of population, industry and employment, housing and political characteristics on economic growth by region. The analysis results are summarized as follows. First, the total employment growth rate, manufacturing employment growth rate, local election turnout and the level of party consensus between the central and local governments are having a positive impact on regional economic growth. Second, according to the GWR analysis, the population has a positive impact on economic growth in the southern region of Korea, and the increase in the total number of employees has a positive impact on the southern region of Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province, North Chungcheong Province and North Gyeongsang Province. Finally, the voter turnout of urbanites is positively affecting economic growth in South Chungcheong Province, Gangwon Province and the southern coast, while North Jeolla and South Jeolla provinces have a positive impact on economic growth as the parties of the central and local governments are equal. The results of this study may suggest the role of local government for regional economic development.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.379-390
• /
• 2013

Through the survey of the K university students' perception on participation in elections, we want to find ways to induce a sound political participation and to effectively be able to boost voter turnout. We analyze the relations among image on election, interest in election and will of participation via structural equation model. We found that both image on election and interest in election significantly influence on will of participation in election. Using the last election participation as a moderating variable, we found that image on election has more effects on will of participation for the participants but not for the case of interest in election.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.105-125
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to analyze 1) who created and distributed fake news, 2) the distribution channels of fake news, 3) who fake news has targeted, and 4) the effects on voting and the impact of fake news on Korean politics. In South Korea, fake news was mainly created by candidates or election campaigns. The reason is that in the wake of the impeachment of President Park Guen Hye, all the political parties in Korea used fake news as a means of mobilizing supporters for each of their candidates or parties to gain an advantage in situations involving political divisions and confrontations between the pro-impeachment, progressive young generation and anti-impeachment, conservative senior generation. Voters' media usage patterns were polarized through social network services (SNS) media and television. Fake news was mostly received through these two media outlets. According to the spreading structure of fake news in Korea, the younger generation generally uses SNS posts intended for unspecified individuals, and the older generation uses closed SNS like KakaoTalk or Naver's BAND. In the end, it is typically characteristic of the older generation to spread fake news through existing offline human networks. In the 2017 presidential election, fake news has been confirmed to have the effect of mobilizing supporters for each political party. In the presidential election, an increase in voter turnout was confirmed among those in their 20s and those in their 60s or older. Evidently, fake news influenced the election of Moon Jae-In. The influence of fake news is expected to grow further as ideological polarization and consequent political polarization continues to intensify in South Korea.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.47-66
• /
• 2011

South Korea has achieved remarkable social and economic development together with the process of democratization over the past 20 years. In the democratic process in South Korea, ordinary people have actively participated in conventional political activities such as elections. But recently, one of the salient phenomena is that the public have been showing political apathy associated with a light poll. Especially, the most serious concern in the political environment of South Korea is that young voters (e.g., 20-30s) have serious political apathy leading to low voter turnout. Regarding this concern, many political scientists argued that this political phenomenon is not only the case in South Korea, insisting that many consolidated democratic countries such as European countries and the US have the same problems. However, South Korea has contained different factors (e.g., historical, culture, social, and political differences) leading to political apathy and light poll. Unfortunately, no one has clearly explain the phenomenon. In fact, in order for scholars to understand and explain these concerns, they should carefully look at the phenomenon with diverse perspectives and approaches. The main purpose of this paper is to explain why the digital generation has political apathy and are reluctant to participate in political activities such as voting. Using causal loop analysis which is based on systematic thinking, we not only analyzed the pattern of the digital generation' political participation with regard to diverse perspectives, but also attempted to draw new political implications from the analysis. Based on our analysis, we tried to suggest some implications for political stability and development in South Korea in the future.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.85-123
• /
• 2020

Under representative democracy, members of the National Assembly exercise their authority to propose, enact, and revise bills on behalf of the people, and the legislation of such lawmakers has a great impact on individuals and society. There exist criticisms that the quality of legislator-sponsored bills has not improved while the number of them has been expanding recently. This study examines the type, productivity, and efficiency of legislation in the 17~19th National Assembly, and empirical analysis is conducted on how the lawmaker's legislations respond to election-related variables such as voter turnout and election competition. The results show that legislator-sponsored bills are mainly produced in the area of governance, finance, macroeconomic policy, social welfare, and health. The number of legislator's proposals increases, while the passing rate decreases, and the processing period extends. Constituents' participation in voting has been shown to enhance legislative efficiency. Based on the results, the paper emphasizes the enhancement of transparency in the legislative process, the improvement of the people's political knowledge, and the revitalization of election functions for the improvement of parliamentary legislation.