6 in 10 Koreans support President Yoon Suk Yeol's removal from office: Poll

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6 in 10 Koreans support President Yoon Suk Yeol's removal from office: Poll

Published: 28 Mar. 2025, 15:57 Updated: 28 Mar. 2025, 16:08

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

People Power Party floor leader Kweon Seong-dong, left, and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, right, shake hands after attending a ceremony at the Daejeon National Cemetery on March 28. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Sixty percent of people who took part in a Gallup Korea survey released on Friday said they support impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's removal from office.

Fifty-three percent also said they would like the liberal Democratic Party (DP) to take the presidency against 34 percent who want the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to retain control of the executive branch.

That result shows the share of respondents who oppose a change of government dropped by five percentage points compared to the previous week.

The survey, which questioned 1,000 eligible voters over the age of 18 from Tuesday to Thursday, had a 95-percent confidence interval and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Among self-identified conservative respondents, 66 percent said they opposed Yoon’s removal from office, while 94 percent of self-identified liberal respondents said they supported his dismissal.

Crucially, 70 percent of people who identify as politically moderate said they would like to see Yoon out of office against just 22 percent who opposed his ouster.

However, only 42 percent of self-identified moderates said they support the DP, suggesting not all who support Yoon’s impeachment are fans of the main liberal party.

Forty-one percent of respondents to the survey said they support the DP against 33 percent who back the PPP and 21 percent who expressed no party affiliation.

When broken down by generation, support for Yoon ran highest among respondents aged 70 and above, 59 percent of whom said they opposed his impeachment.

By contrast, 76 percent of those between the ages of 40 and 50 said they supported his removal, followed by 72 percent of respondents between the ages of 50 and 60 and 69 percent of people between the ages of 30 and 40.

Only respondents between the ages of 60 and 70 appeared evenly split on the question of whether Yoon’s impeachment should be upheld.

Regionally, opposition to Yoon’s removal was highest in the traditionally conservative regions of Daegu and North Gyeongsang, where 58 percent of respondents said they wanted to see the president stay in office.

Support for his removal was highest in the liberal stronghold of Gwangju and the surrounding Jeolla region, where an overwhelming 88 percent said he should be dismissed.

DP leader Lee Jae-myung received the most support among all potential presidential hopefuls in the survey, scoring 34 percent.

Just 8 percent of survey respondents said they favored Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo, who has been mentioned as a possible flagbearer for the PPP.

Fellow conservatives Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo each scored 3 percent in the same survey.

An election to replace Yoon would take place within 60 days of a Constitutional Court ruling to uphold the impeachment motion against him.

However, the court has yet to announce the date of its judgment and given little hint as to how it will decide his case.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]