한국 무당파의 이념, 정책 선호, 그리고 정치적 태도 = 제18대 대통령 선거를 중심으로

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

An important question about independents is whether they are merely indifferent about politics or they have certain political preference but are unable to find political parties to support. However, previous studies on Korean independents have almost exclusively focused on their vote choices and socio-economic characteristics. Different from previous studies, this study empirically examines the political ideology, policy preference, and basic political attitudes of independents. Specifically, using “EAI panel studies 2012”, I compare the ideological orientation, issue preferences, and socio-economic characteristics of independents with those of partisans during the 18th Korean presidential election. The results show that 1) Korean independents are younger and more educated than partisans, 2) they tend to believe their social status are relatively higher, and 3) they came from more diverse regions across the nation. More importantly, it turned out that their ideological orientation, policy preference, and political attitudes significantly and consistent differ from those of partisans controlling for their socio-economic characteristics. This suggest that Korean independents are likely to be those with certain political preferences that exant Korean parties find it difficult to accommodate.