Partisan Polarization in Korea: Ideology, Perception, Affect, and Participation

Abstract

While many people think that ideological conflict is one of the most serious problems in Korean society, previous studies find no strong evidence of ideological polarization. Have partisan voters been more ideologically divided over time in Korea? If not, is it just their perception on major political parties? Or, do partisans dislike each other more than before, so they look ideologically more polarized? Using the election survey data from the 17th -20th National Assembly Elections, we find that none of the three can explain the seemingly divided Korean society. As an alternative explanation, we show that the gap in political participation between partisans and nonpartisans has been greatly increasing over time. Since parties are likely to focus more on politically active voters, our finding implies that the ideological conflict is likely to worsen in the future.