58% in poll say everyone should get disaster relief

Six out of 10 Koreans think the government should pay emergency disaster relief money to everyone, not just the bottom 70 percent income bracket as planned to help fight COVID-19, a recent survey showed.

In a poll of 500 Koreans nationwide conducted on Tuesday by Realmeter, 58.2 percent said they are for universal payout of the disaster relief, while 36.6 percent said they are against it, the pollster said on Wednesday.

“Approvals (of universal payout) outnumbered disapprovals in most regions, age groups, political party support bases and ideological spectrums, but they came close to a tie in Seoul, among women and supporters of the Justice Party. Among those in their 20s, there were more nays than yeas,” Realmeter said.

Yeas were especially dominant in Gwangju-Jeolla Provinces, Busan-Ulsan-South Gyeongsang Province, among men, people in their 40s and 50s, and supporters of the Democratic Party.

Among people in their 20s, 50.9 percent said they were against the universal payout, and 37.5 percent said they were for it.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)