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In this study, we analyzed the factors that intensified affective polarization among voters during the 2022 South Korean presidential election. We also examined this polarization's effect on their political attitudes, including their satisfaction with democracy, perception of the fairness of elections, and trust in political institutions. We found that the greater the perceived ideological differences between the two parties-the People Power Party (PPP) and the Democratic Party (DP)-and the more extreme the voter's ideology, the more affective polarization increased. We also found that affective polarization intensified with increasing ideological extremity among all age cohorts except those in their forties. Finally, in contrast to DP supporters, PPP supporters' political attitudes became more negative as their affective polarization increased because the opposing party, the DP, was the governing party. This suggests that affective polarization may polarize support for democratic norms and trust in the political institutions that underpin democracy, depending on one's partisan allegiances.
KeyWords: affective polarization, presidential election, democratic norms
L Introduction
Many democracies, including South Korea and the United States, are experiencing crises of political polarization. Stark divisions between political conservatives and liberals in these countries suggest that politicians are not representing the voices of all the public, sparking dissatisfaction with politics and systems of representation.
Despite this political polarization, many scholars who study the progress of democratization in South Korea argue that the country has experienced a decline in authoritarianism, transition toward democracy, and consolidation of democracy (Hahm and Kim 1999; Hahm 2008; see O'Donnell & Schmitter 1991 for details). Hahm (2008) argues that South Korea has achieved democratic consolidation on the grounds that it regularly holds free, fair, and competitive elections, and there is no possibility of a return to authoritarianism. In addition, there have been peaceful transitions of power between conservatives and liberals (Hahm, Jung, and Kim, 2013).
For example, Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative People Power Party (PPP) candidate, was elected in the South Korean presidential election held in March 2022. Liberal incumbent Moon Jae-in, who gained power in the 2017 presidential election after the impeachment of conservative President Park Geun-hye, failed to regain immediate presidential power. The conservative party, which had practically collapsed after the impeachment, thus regained presidential power after five years.
Consequently, South Korea seems to have consolidated...