Democratic satisfaction under affective polarization: Evidence from South Korea

Abstract

This article examines the determinants of satisfaction with democracy in South Korea, focusing on the role of affective polarization within a broader structural and attitudinal framework. Using nationally representative data from the 2022 Korean Presidential Election Voter Attitudes Survey, the study employs hierarchical regression models across four domains: demographics, system and performance evaluations, political participation and efficacy, and ideological and affective orientations. The findings show that institutional trust and perceptions of electoral fairness are the strongest predictors of democratic satisfaction, while household-level economic evaluations also play an important role. Even after accounting for these factors, affective polarization remains negatively associated with democratic satisfaction, indicating that emotional hostility toward political opponents conditions how citizens interpret institutional performance. Robustness checks using ordinal logistic regression confirm the stability of these findings. Situating South Korea within the comparative literature, the study highlights the conditional yet consequential role of emotional polarization in consolidated democracies.