Perceptions of Political Corruption and Voting Behavior in South Korea

Abstract

While regular and competitive elections are expected to lower political corruption by holding elected officials accountable for their actions, citizens often fail to vote corrupt officials out of office in elections. This article explores how citizens’ perceptions of political corruption influence their voting behavior by testing three competing theories: nonvoting, opposition voting, and corruption voting. This study also investigates the types of voters involved in each form of voting by considering three mediating factors: economic evaluation, partisanship, and education. Empirical findings from the South Korean case suggest that, in general, the high level of perceived corruption decreases voter turnout, confirming the nonvoting theory. Second, corruption voting occurs mostly among those who positively evaluate the economy and have the same partisan affiliation as the incumbent candidate. Finally, a high level of education leads to opposition voting. In sum, the empirical evidence confirms that incumbent candidates’ and party’s political corruption does not always lead to the electoral victory of opposition parties and their candidates because the mediating factors play a role in strengthening or weakening the patterns of nonvoting, opposition voting, and corruption voting.