Photo: the Kim Dae-Jung Convention Center at Gwangju. Credit: Kim Dae-jung Convention Center.
Despite Yoon Suk-yeol 윤석열’s attempted self-coup and impeachment, Yoon and the People Power Party 국민의힘 are showing surprising strength in a number of polls. In January, Voice of Seoul 서울의 소리 and WinG Korea 윈지코리아 designed a clever poll suggesting that the unexpected results are the work of conservative voters lying to pollsters by pretending to be liberals or moderates who support Yoon and the PPP. (See previous coverage, “Post-Impeachment Polling Shenanigans.”)
Results from several more polls by Voice of Seoul offered further evidence of coordinated efforts to skew polling. On February 7, WinG Korea conducted two polls simultaneously: a national poll and a regional poll conducted only in the Jeolla-do provinces 전라도 and Gwangju 광주, traditional liberal strongholds. Results from the regional polls showed 72.8% support for Democratic Party 민주당, and 15.4% support for the PPP among respondents.
But among respondents to the national poll who identified themselves as voters in Jeolla-do provinces and Gwangju voters, polling data showed 63.6% support for the Democrats, and 30.3% for the PPP - reflecting twice as much support for conservatives as the results of the regional polls. In a follow-up question, Voice of Seoul asked respondents who identified themselves as voters in Jeolla-do provinces to give their area code. More than 25% of respondents answered incorrectly.
In a poll conducted on February 13, Voice of Seoul went a step further by calling voters who were verifiably residing in Daegu 대구, Busan 부산, Ulsan 울산 and Gyeongsang-do provinces 경상도 - all traditionally conservative areas. Pollsters were instructed to ask respondents which region they lived in, despite already having this information - and found that 51.7% of respondents lied about where they lived.