71% of South Koreans Believe Kamala Harris’s Victory Would Benefit National Interests

With just two months left before the U.S. presidential election, a recent poll reveals that 71.7% of South Koreans believe that if Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris wins, it will benefit the national interest.

The poll, conducted by Realmeter for the Energy Economics Newspaper, surveyed 501 adults aged 18 and older. The results show that 71.7% of respondents feel Harris’s election would benefit South Korea. In contrast, only 17.2% believed that a win by Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump would be beneficial. Also, 8.2% of respondents felt that the outcome would make little difference, while 2.9% were unsure.

Harris was consistently favored across different demographics, such as region, gender, age, political views, and occupations. Regionally, more than half of respondents in several areas favored Harris:

• Seoul: 80.7%
• Incheon/Gyeonggi: 69.0%
• Daejeon/Chungcheong/Sejong: 67.9%
• Gangwon: 59.6%
• Busan/Ulsan/Gyeongnam: 74.9%
• Daegu/Gyeongbuk: 67.1%
• Gwangju/Jeolla: 72.4%
• Jeju: 64.4%

In Gangwon, the option “would be similar” (21.5%) slightly exceeded Trump’s favorability (18.9%), while in Jeju, the “don’t know” response (18.4%) was higher than Trump’s favorability (17.2%). Trump was the second choice behind Harris in other regions, with favorability ranging from 11.2% in Seoul to 28.0% in Daegu/Gyeongbuk.

Breaking down favorability by gender, Harris led with 72.8% of men and 70.6% of women, while Trump garnered 20.1% among men and 14.4% among women.

Harris also received the highest favorability across all age groups: 66.8% among 18-29 year-olds, 73.6% among those in their 30s, 64.6% among those in their 40s, 67.8% among those in their 50s, 81.3% among those in their 60s, and 77.1% among those aged 70 and over. Trump’s favorability was lower, with 21.9% among 18-29 year-olds, 20.3% among those in their 40s, 19.3% among those in their 50s, 16.7% among those in their 30s, 15.6% among those aged 70 and above, and 11.5% among those in their 60s.

Harris also received widespread favorability across various metrics, including presidential approval ratings and ideological leanings. She earned 80.0% positive evaluations, with 68.2% negative evaluations. Her support was robust across ideological lines, with 72.3% of conservatives, 74.3% of moderates, and 64.4% of progressives viewing her favorably.

In contrast, Trump’s strongest support came from progressives at 20.5%, followed by conservatives at 18.8% and moderates at 14.2%. Among those with negative presidential approval ratings, 17.9% favored Trump, compared to 15.6% with positive evaluations.

In terms of occupation, Harris led in all categories, from 68.9% among office workers to 70.3% among sales and service workers, 69.0% among homemakers, 83.1% among self-employed individuals, 61.0% among students, 79.0% among those in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, and 71.4% among the unemployed and retired.

Trump’s highest favorability among sales and production workers at 24.4%, students at 23.1%, unemployed and retired at 21.5%, agriculture, forestry, and fishing at 21.0%, office workers at 16.2%, self-employed individuals at 12.3%, and homemakers at 9.3%.

This survey utilized a mixed automated response method with 97% wireless and 3% wired responses. The margin of error stands at ±4.4 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, with a response rate of 2.9%.