Democratic Party candidate Jung Won-oh is projected to lead People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon in the Seoul mayoral race, the most closely watched contest in the June 3 local elections, though voter preferences diverged sharply by generation and gender.
According to exit poll results released by KBS, MBC and SBS at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jung garnered 51.4% against Oh's 46.0% in the Seoul mayoral race. Jung led Oh by 5.4 percentage points.
By age group, Jung was favored among voters in their 40s and 50s. He was projected to win 53.2% support among voters in their 40s and 60.7% among those in their 50s. Oh recorded 44.9% and 37.9% in the same age groups, respectively.
In contrast, Oh led among voters under 30, those in their 30s, and voters aged 60 and older. Oh garnered 56.8% among voters under 30 and 59.7% among those in their 30s, ahead of Jung. Jung received 35.9% among voters under 30 and 36.7% among those in their 30s.
Oh also showed strong support among older voters. He recorded 60.4% among voters in their 60s and 71.1% among those aged 70 and older. Jung tallied 38.8% and 28.1% in the same groups, respectively.
The starkest divide emerged among men in their 20s. Among male voters in their 20s who responded to the exit poll, 75.3% voted for Oh, while Jung's support was just 20.6%.
The opposite trend appeared among women in their 20s, where Jung led with 48.5% to Oh's 41.4%.
The exit poll was jointly conducted by Hankook Research, Ipsos and Korea Research International. From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the day, the survey covered 108,727 voters across 16 metropolitan cities and provinces at 615 polling stations nationwide, sampling every fifth voter as they left the polls. The margin of error is ±1.7 to 4.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
