• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.79-106
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• 2019

Local governments within the boundaries of a state need increasing flexibility to satisfy diverse economic, social, and environmental goals in their particular geographical setting. However, many candidates in the local election in South Korea tend to see local politics as an extension of national-level politics. In particular, this paper mainly deals with how the voters' evaluation of a president's performance has influenced subnational elections in South Korea. Our analysis suggests that the fate of candidates in subnational elections is shaped by the performance of the incumbent president in both economic development and foreign affairs.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.5-40
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• 2021

In the 4.7 by-election in 2021, the ruling Democratic Party suffered a record devastating defeat, breaking the trend of a post-intermediate evaluation confirmed in the recent election. Why did the Democratic Party lose by a large margin unlike the recent election trend? In order to find answers to these questions, this study analyzes the voting behavior of individual voters based on the voter consciousness survey data conducted after the 4.7 by-election, while examining the background and causes of such voter choices. As a result of the study, in the 4.7 by-election, as confirmed in previous studies, public opinion against the ruling government was strong, and negative elections were held. However, if we look at the process and results of this by-election in more detail, we can see that it is different from the general by-election. In the past by-elections, the government judgement was due to the passive participation of the ruling party-oriented voters in elections with low political weight, or the active judgement psychology that was maximized in situations where the political burden was less. However, in this by-election, on the contrary, in an election with a high political weight, the active judgement psychology of the Democratic Party and non-partisan voters had an effect on strengthening the midterm evaluation character of the election. In addition, it can be seen that the gathering of conservative voters who support the opposition also had a strong influence on the reinforcement of the midterm evaluation character of the election.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.10
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• pp.274-285
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• 2010

In the United States, a marked emphasis on personal achievement has been among enduring values characterizing American culture from the beginning of the republic. Particularly, Americans have attached great value to the spirit of self-reliance in striving for personal achievement. However, there have been few empirical studies focusing on the effects of Americans' self-reliant spirit on American electoral politics. Through a field experimentation focusing on the voters of Portage County in Ohio, this study examined the effects of Americans' self-reliant spirit on the evaluations of presidential candidates' personal traits, which constitute the candidates' character. The results of this study demonstrated that American voters evaluated those presidential candidates who were described as self-reliant significantly more favorably than the presidential candidates who were not so described, for 8 out of the 11 personal traits. The findings provide meaningful evidence for ascertaining the potential and legitimacy of the influences of the spirit of self-reliance, in the American society including electoral politics.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.79-115
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• 2021

Voters' negative evaluations of government performance lower their trust in government, which functions as the reward and punishment for the government. Trust in government thus serves to promote political accountability of the representative government. However, voters build their confidence toward the party government where the ruling party is responsible for the performance. Considering this partisan nature, we empirically examine that the influence of voters' performance evaluations on governmental trust is conditional on their party identifications. While higher perceptions of political/social conflict and increasing negative evaluations of government policies and economic performance are associated with the lower level of confidence in government, the relationship is contrasted between different party identifiers. For supporters of the ruling party in 2020, the negative evaluations of government performance are not likely to reduce trust in government a lot. On the contrary, those who identify with the main opposition party show the most prominent effect of negative evaluations on their distrust in government. This study demonstrates that trust in government is affected by voters' partisan preferences, not entirely by evaluations of government performance. Such a distortion of the reward and sanction function of governmental trust might lead to the weakening of the accountability mechanism in representative democracy.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.42
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• pp.79-106
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• 2008

Based on the third-person effect hypothesis, this study conducted a nation-wide online survey to assess how Korean voters perceived the mass media's effect on the candidates' image and voting behavior during the 17th presidential election. The research results showed that the voters tended to perceive that the mass media such as newspaper, television and the Internet had a greater effect on others than on themselves with regards to the formation of the three candidates' images. The third-person effect on the voting behavior was also revealed differently in terms of the medium according to age and political tendency of the voters. For instance, the younger and liberal voters were likely to see newspaper as having a greater influence on other voters' choice of candidate, while the older voters saw TV as having a greater effect on other voters. The conservative tendency did not affect the perception of the voters at all. Another noteworthy result was that personal characteristics of the candidates' images such as appearances and communication skills did not affect the voters' behaviors in the election process.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.344-355
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• 2021

As the voting age has been lowered to 18 from the 21st general election on April 15, 2020, the use of political news, motivation for political interest, and reliability of political media of first-time voters were examined. Accordingly, we analyzed how their political efficacy affects their voting intentions. As a result of the study through the survey of participants, the use of political news by voters was to acquire political information mainly through TV and portals. And the use of traditional media such as radio and newspaper was low. first voters became interested in politics through articles delivered by the media, and it was found that they trusted the political information provided through terrestrial TV reports and debates. This generation also confirmed that if they have higher political efficacy, they show higher willingness to participate in voting. Through this study, in order to increase the political participation of the younger generation who are evaluated as having relatively low interest in politics, the role of the media was reconfirmed as the most important factor.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.62
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• pp.159-178
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• 2013

The current study examined the effects of the voters' perception of television news coverage of election poll results on their political participation intention. 700 voters participated in a telephone interview three weeks before the 2012 Korean presidential election. A structural equation modeling with the nationally representative sample was performed. The findings indicate the respondents were more likely to evaluate television news coverage of election poll results negatively when the news coverage presented that the candidate they supported was behind in the race, and the negative evaluation was linked to a greater third-person perception. The third-person perception, in turn, had an indirect effect on political participation intention through negative emotional responses. The results imply that voters' political position influences their perception of the television news coverage of election poll results, and this perception can have indirect effects on political participation.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.350-366
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• 2022

The objective of this study is to empirically verify the relationship between the image of politicians, political belief agreement, and voting intention recognized through YouTube content, centering on the 4·7 Seoul Mayor's Election. A survey was conducted on voters in their 20s or older living in Seoul, and the following main results were derived. First, among the factors of politician image, morality, leadership, and administrative power were found to have a significant positive effect on political belief agreement. Second, it was found that the consensus of political beliefs with politicians had a significant positive effect on voters' voting intentions. Third, it was found that among the factors of politician image, political ability and communication ability had a directly significant positive effect on voting intention. Fourth, it was found that politicians' morality, leadership, and administrative power all had a significant effect on voters' voting intentions through political consensus. The significance of this study is that this study identified the factors of politician image on political belief agreement and voter voting intention by applying the relationship between politician image, political belief agreement, and voter voting intention to YouTube content.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.29-54
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• 2018

Focusing on vastly different results between two presidential elections in 2012 and 2017, this paper examines how political attitudes of conservative voters had changed in 5 years and how these changes had brought about differences in their vote choices in 2017. Using panel data encompassing two presidential elections, this paper finds that, though ideological and affective evaluation of conservative parties and candidates had indeed deteriorated among supporters of Park Geun-Hye in 2012, it is candidate factors rather partisan ones that exerted much more significant influence on their vote choices in 2017. In addition it is found that the differentiation in political and economic policy preferences among conservative voters had only slight influence on their voted choices in 2017. This paper concludes with discussing how to understand the result of the $19^{th}$ presidential elections and what implications it has in prospecting the party realignment in Korean electoral politics.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.119-143
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• 2009

Public disapproval of National Assembly is resulted not only from the structural peculiarity of its decision-making process, but from the gap between public expectation of the National Assembly and its performance. While Korean electorate, being interested in politics with relatively high level of political efficacy, hold higher expectation from politics, the National Assembly fails to satisfy public expectation. In particular, irresponsible behaviors of representatives and the crippled operation of the National assembly are responsible for the low level of public trust to it. Institutional reform and individual efforts of representatives are necessary to promote public trust toward the National Assembly.