Tied to Roh’s Fortunes, Uri Party’s Popularity Slides

By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter



The approval rating of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) surged to 37.9 percent as of late last month, more than double that of the ruling Uri Party, according to a survey by The Korea Times.
In the opinion poll conducted Oct. 27-28 after the Oct. 26 by-elections in which the GNP swept all four National Assembly seats up for grabs, nearly four in every 10 South Koreans predominantly conservative party as their preferred political party.

It is quite rare that the largest opposition party enjoyed such a high approval rating as it has hardly exceeded the 30 percent level in most opinion surveys in recent years. Experts attributed the unusually high score to the ``election-time’’ political situation.

With President Roh Moo-hyun showing quite a low job approval rating (29 percent), the GNP appears to have largely taken advantage of the ruling camp’s poor performance rather than its own policy perspectives, political analysts said.

About 21 percent of the respondents chose the liberal Uri Party as their preferred political party, showing a widening gap with the GNP in recent months. The small opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and the Democratic Party followed as the third and fourth favored parties with approval ratings of 7.5 and 3.5 percent, respectively.

However, around 28.6 percent answered that they did not favor one party over another or gave no response, showing their apathy for politics.

By age, the GNP was more favored by those in their 40s, 50s and 60s while the Uri Party was more popular among those in their 20s, a large portion of them university students. The progressive DLP received relatively high support from white-collar workers in their 20s and 30s.

The GNP was strongly supported in the Kyongsang region, the conservative party’s traditional stronghold. More than half of the residents in Taegu, Pusan and the surrounding Kyongsang provinces gave support to the party. The ruling Uri Party even received support across the nation, though the rating was a bit higher in the Cholla regions.

When asked about the parliamentary by-elections, a great majority of the polled attributed the Uri Party’s defeat to its failure to play a role of the nation’s governing party (45.4 percent) or Roh’s poor performance (38.3 percent). Analysts pointed out that it was not because the GNP did well as the main opposition party but because it took advantage of the ruling camp’s poor achievements.

On the desirable political power structure for the nation, 45.2 percent said the current five-year, single-term presidential system should be maintained. Another 26.9 percent favored a U.S.-style four-year presidential system in which a head of state could seek re-election. Those who want a dual executive system and parliamentary Cabinet system accounted for 15.7 and 10 percent, respectively.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr