As the June 3 Busan mayoral election approaches and the two major parties mount full-scale campaigns, Mayor Park Hyung-joon and Rep. Jeon Jae-soo are running an exceptionally tight race that remains within the poll’s margin of error.
A J2 Insight Lab poll of 1,000 Busan voters conducted April 24–25 found Rep. Jeon at 43.9% and Mayor Park at 43.7%, a difference of just 0.2 percentage points. Other candidates received 2.9%; 5.8% said they supported no candidate; and 3.7% were undecided.
Party support likewise shows a close contest between the two major parties. The Democratic Party polled 40.7% and the People Power Party 38.4%, placing both within the margin of error. The Reform New Party registered 2.5%, the National Reform Party 1.7%, the Progressive Party 1.3%, and other parties 2.7%. Some 10.5% said they had no party preference, and 2.1% said they didn’t know.
When asked whether they would support the ruling party to back the current government or boost the opposition to check it, 46.2% favored supporting the ruling party, while 40.6% favored supporting the opposition—another narrowly divided result.
Respondents’ ideological leanings were 37.6% conservative, 35.0% moderate, and 18.1% progressive, indicating conservatives outnumber progressives by a sizeable margin. Some 9.4% said they didn’t know.
The survey was conducted by J2 Insight Lab on April 24–25 among 1,000 men and women aged 18 and older residing in Busan. The poll used automated ARS calls to landlines and mobile phones. Respondent selection employed 75% mobile virtual numbers provided by telecom carriers and 25% landline RDD. The response rate was 3.0%, and the margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The sample was weighted by sex, age, and region based on the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s resident registration population statistics as of the end of March 2026. For full details, see the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.
Busan — Do Nam-seon, Reporter (aegookja@viva100.com)
