(Cheonan = News1) Reporter Kim Gi-tae = Presidential candidate of the Reform Party, Lee Jun-seok, is conducting 'Let's Eat School Food, Lee Jun-seok' at the student cafeteria of Dankook University Cheonan Campus on May 16, 2025./Courtesy of News1

A survey conducted at Seoul National University on undergraduate students showed that Lee Jun-seok, the candidate from the Reform Party, received the most support.

The university newspaper 'College News' revealed the results of a political awareness survey conducted online among undergraduate students from the 14th to the 20th of last month on the 8th, after the presidential election.

According to the results, the candidate with the highest support rate among this presidential election was Lee Jun-seok from the Reform Party (35.1%). In second place was Lee Jae-myung from the Democratic Party of Korea (27.5%), followed by Kim Moon-soo from the People Power Party (7.7%), and Kwon Young-guk from the Democratic Labor Party (4.8%). Others accounted for 0.6%, while 'no candidate supported' was recorded at 24.4%.

Among the undergraduate students who support Lee Jun-seok, 78.0% cited 'promises and policy direction' as their reason. 'Political ideology' followed with 16.3%, while students citing the candidate's morality and career, as well as the political party affiliation, were each around 2%.

Among the undergraduate students supporting Lee Jae-myung, 27.8% cited 'party affiliation' as their reason. This was followed by 'promises and policy direction' (27.4%), 'political ideology' (23.9%), and 'candidate's career' (20.7%).

In response to these results, Kwon Won-ho, a professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Seoul National University, noted in the College News that there was a demand among young voters for reform-oriented conservative politicians, and that many appear to support Lee Jun-seok as a substitute due to the absence of established politicians who meet that demand.

The university newspaper, Daehak Sinmun, announces the results of the '2025 Seoul National University Undergraduate Students' Political Awareness Survey' on the 8th./Courtesy of Seoul National University Daehak Sinmun

However, it's pointed out that there were more male students than female students in the survey, with a gender ratio of approximately 6.5 to 3.5. The survey results on political tendencies by gender revealed that among female respondents from Seoul National University, 43.0% identified as 'progressive', while 11.0% identified as 'conservative'. In contrast, among male respondents, 38.9% identified as 'conservative', and 21.4% identified as 'progressive'.

The survey results indicated that among male respondents at Seoul National University, 49.5% supported Lee Jun-seok. Lee Jae-myung received support from 18.8%, Kim Moon-soo from 8.0%, and Kwon Young-guk from 3.9%. In contrast, the support rates for female respondents were 43.5% for Lee Jae-myung, 8.5% for Lee Jun-seok, 7.1% for Kim Moon-soo, and 6.4% for Kwon Young-guk.

Kang Won-taek, a professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Seoul National University, stated in the College News that as women advance into various sectors as new competitors, it seems that young men in their 20s are feeling economic insecurity more acutely than before. He suggested that this might be a result of political tactics using gender-based division by the parties.

The survey targeted all undergraduate students, with 1,161 respondents. The College News produced results based on 1,057 students after excluding those who did not disclose their gender or responded unsatisfactorily (with a margin of error of ±3.01% at a 95% confidence level). The College News conducted its first survey in 1985, and this is the 11th iteration.