2010년 충북 지방선거 후보자들에 대한 유권자들의 인지도

Abstract

When electorates choose candidates for election, one important standard of decision is character. However, in times like local elections, when there are several elections going on at the same time and also when there is a high number of candidates, it is highly likely that the electorates will not have a full understanding of the candidates’ characters. To confirm this phenomenon, there was a survey taken from May 25 to June 1, 2010 by 1,182 electorates of the Chungbuk province about the running candidates. Awareness of the electorates was low as expected, but among the 8 elections, the elections for the provincial governor and the mayor (or county) governor were of the high awareness, followed by elections for the provincial assemblyman and the city (or county) councilor. For each of the elections, there was a difference of awareness of the candidates according to the general characteristics of the survey-takers. However, men generally were more aware of the candidates than women. The electorates’ awareness of the candidates increased as the electorates’ age got older. Electorates living in the counties (less populated areas) were more aware of the candidates for the mayor (or county) governor and provincial assemblyman than those in the cities. As for the candidates, excluding the provincial governor, electorates in urbanized regions were more aware than those in rural regions. Considering the Electorates educational background, current university students were less aware of all the candidates. The lower educated electorates were more aware of the candidates of the provincial assemblyman and the city (or county) councilor, and the higher educated electorates were more aware of the rest of the candidates. In the matter of political backgrounds, although there was only a small difference, the conservative electorates were more aware of all the candidates. In order to increase the awareness of candidates, measures such as the abolition of city (or county) council, a study for the attraction of new able-bodied men for local elections, the expansion of election campaign terms, the deregulation of elections campaigns, bottom-up party nomination, more use of digital networks, etc. should be taken into consideration.