A poll found that 41.5% of Daejeon residents oppose an administrative merger with South Chungcheong Province. That is 4 out of 10 people, higher than the share who support the merger (33.7%).
Daejeon City on the 23rd announced the results of a poll conducted to gauge citizens' perceptions and demands regarding an administrative merger between Daejeon and South Chungcheong.
The poll asked about ▲support or opposition to the merger ▲whether a referendum is necessary ▲the appropriate timing for an administrative merger.
First, there was more opposition than support to the administrative merger being pushed for July 1 under the approval of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee. Opposition was 41.5%, while support was 33.7%.
By area, opposition rates were higher in Yuseong District (46.6%) and Seo District (43.6%). By age, opposition responses were higher among those in their 30s (53.4%) and those ages 18 to 29 (51.1%) compared with other age groups.
The most common reason for opposing the merger was "worsening conflict between regions," at 29.4%. That was followed by insufficient procedures to gather residents' opinions (26.7%) and damage to Daejeon's identity (15.7%).
By contrast, respondents who supported the merger cited administrative efficiency (46.4%), resolving the capital area's single-core dominance (25.3%), and greater resident convenience (15.7%), in that order.
Regarding the merger, 71.6% said a referendum is necessary, it was found. That was followed by not necessary (14.6%) and neutral (13.7%).
As for timing, "pursue after a long-term review of five years or more" was most common at 38.4%. Launch in two years (26.5%) and launch this July (25.7%) followed.
Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo said, "As the administrative merger is being pushed through rashly without procedural legitimacy, many problems are arising," and added, "Unnecessary resident resistance and intra-regional conflict are emerging, and we were able to confirm this through the poll."
He went on to say, "As much as the majority of citizens are calling for it, it is essential to hold a referendum during the merger process to directly confirm public sentiment."
The poll was commissioned by the city to polling firm Realmeter and conducted on Feb. 20–22 among 2,153 men and women ages 18 and older residing in Daejeon, using mobile web and interactive voice response (ARS). The margin of sampling error is ±2.1 percentage points (P) at the 9% confidence level.