Poll: 45% of Democratic Party supporters back PM Kim Min-seok as next party leader

A poll released Friday shows Prime Minister Kim Min-seok with more than 40 percent support among Democratic Party of Korea backers as their preferred candidate to lead the party.

Gallup Korea conducted the survey from June 23 to 25 among 1,000 registered voters aged 18 and older nationwide. It asked respondents which of three potential candidates — Kim, former party leader Jung Chung-rae or lawmaker Song Young-gil — they would most like to see contest the party leadership at the Democratic Party's national convention scheduled for August.

Among the 409 respondents who identified as Democratic Party supporters, 45 percent backed Kim. Jung received 24 percent support, Song 15 percent, and 15 percent withheld their opinion.

Among all respondents regardless of party affiliation, 26 percent said Kim would be the most appropriate choice as next party leader. Jung received 19 percent, Song 13 percent, and 41 percent withheld their opinion.

Gallup Korea said "the key factor is the sentiment of the party member electorate, which is difficult to gauge through general polling," adding that at the Democratic Party's August 2024 national convention, the party member electorate comprised about 17,000 delegates and approximately 1.22 million dues-paying members — a figure representing less than 3 percent of the national electorate.

The pollster added that "when randomly sampling 1,000 voters nationwide, fewer than 30 Democratic Party member electors would be selected — not enough for meaningful analysis."

The survey was conducted via computer-assisted telephone interviewing using randomly assigned virtual mobile phone numbers. For further details, visit the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.