Over half of Koreans agree to lower legal minimum age for presidential candidacy: poll

Over half of South Koreans are in favor of lowering the constitutional minimum age required for someone to run for president, a poll said Wednesday.

According to Realmeter's poll of 500 adults nationwide, 50.3 percent consented to the need to revise the Constitution to bring down the minimum age for presidential candidacy currently set at 40.

The survey found 44.8 percent of the respondents opposed the revision of the minimum candidacy age, the Seoul-based pollster said.

Under the Constitution, people under the age of 40 are not eligible to stand as a presidential candidate. The age limit has recently touched off a heated debate amid growing calls in the local political circles for a generational shift.

Support for the revision of the candidacy age limit was particularly strong among respondents in their 20s and 30s, conservatives and residents of Seoul, Realmeter noted.

The support rates among conservatives and those in their 20s and 30s were 62.7 percent, 62.8 percent and 57.2 percent, respectively. On the contrary, 58.5 percent of respondents in their 50s expressed an opposite view.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level. (Yonhap)