Latest news with #Election2025
Korea Herald
20 hours ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
MBC logs highest viewership on election night
Joint exit polls by broadcasters miss mark, with final tally showing tighter race South Korea's three major broadcast networks, KBS, MBC and SBS, aired marathon coverage of Tuesday's presidential election running some eight hours, with MBC emerging as the clear ratings leader. According to Nielsen Korea, MBC's 'Election 2025' drew the highest nationwide household viewership across all parts of its six-segment broadcast. Its ratings climbed steadily, with Part 1 drawing 4.3 percent, peaking at 14.5 percent in Part 3, and concluding at 5.4 percent in Part 6. MBC was the only network among the three to record double-digit ratings. KBS' election coverage, titled 'Vote That Changes My Life" (translated), saw more modest numbers, starting at 2.4 percent and reaching a high of 5.2 percent in Part 2 before tapering off to 2.0 percent. The SBS special, '2025 People's Vote" (translated), posted still lower figures, opening at 1.4 percent and peaking at 3.7 percent in Parts 3 and 4, before ending at 1.2 percent. MBC's ratings dominance follows a strong performance during April's general election, when it led all Korean broadcasters with a viewership high of 11.7 percent. With election night coverage stretching eight to nine hours, each broadcaster introduced distinct features to retain viewer interest. MBC drew attention for a cinematic countdown video that wove together major moments in Korean history. One segment linked a 1946 speech by independence leader Kim Gu with BTS frontman RM's 2018 address to the United Nations -- an editing choice that garnered considerable online engagement for blending historical gravitas with contemporary cultural relevance. SBS leaned into playful visual effects, incorporating pop culture parodies, including references to "Squid Game" and the viral Pikki Pikki cheerleading dance, both of which gained traction on social media. Meanwhile, the accuracy of exit polls conducted jointly by KBS, MBC and SBS was called into question due to the significant difference between the exit polls and the final vote tally. The poll surveyed 80,146 voters at 325 polling stations nationwide on the day of the election, between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. It carried a margin of error of plus or minus 0.8 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. The poll projected a decisive win for Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung with 51.7 percent of the vote, compared to 39.3 percent for Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party -- a projected gap of 12.4 percentage points. However, the final tally showed a narrower margin: Lee received 49.42 percent of the votes, while Kim garnered 41.15 percent, which amounted to an actual gap of 8.27 percentage points. The low accuracy of the exit polls is largely interpreted as stemming from high turnout during early voting, which took place May 29 and 30 and saw a participation rate of 34.74 percent. Since exit polling is conducted only on Election Day, early voters' preferences may have been harder to capture. To account for potential discrepancies stemming from the early voting turnout, an additional 11,500 people were surveyed by phone and correction factors were applied to the data. Despite these efforts, the broadcasters ultimately failed to deliver an accurate prediction. Some politicians attributed the miscalculation to the influence of so-called 'shy conservatives.' During a radio broadcast on Wednesday, Woo Sang-ho, co-chair of the Democratic Party of Korea's election campaign committee, remarked, 'It has been clearly confirmed that shy conservatives made up about 5 to 5.5 percent,' noting that 'voters in this group, who had been hesitant to cast their ballots, ultimately turned out in full force.' In the 2022 presidential election, exit poll results showed Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung with 47.8 percent and People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol with 48.4 percent. The actual vote count closely aligned, with Lee receiving 47.8 percent and Yoon 48.5 percent. The early voting turnout during the 2022 presidential election reached 36.93 percent nationwide. The additional phone surveys were conducted to improve accuracy and were credited with producing exit poll estimates that were nearly spot-on.
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
Broadcasters pull out all stops in Election Day coverage
Broadcasters vie for viewership, with high-profile panels, dynamic visuals, proprietary voting prediction South Korea's major broadcasters went all-out for their live coverage of the June 3 presidential election, delivering eight-hours of marathon programming, each with a distinct editorial style. National broadcaster KBS opted for a documentarylike, serious tone, while SBS took a more energetic approach, incorporating upbeat music such as 10cm's 'To Reach You' and prominently featuring its teddy bear mascot, Toopyoro. Meanwhile, MBC stuck to a relatively traditional, news-driven format, delivering the results with a straightforward, businesslike tone. After leading the viewership rating during April's general election, MBC returned this year with an impressive setup for "Election 2025." The network unveiled its six-panel display, the largest LED screen ever used in Korean election broadcasting for displaying election results. Ceiling-mounted wire cameras provided sweeping shots of the studio for dynamic footage. The 'Debate M' segment featured a lineup of prominent figures including author Yoo Si-min, former Korea Economic Daily editor-in-chief Chung Kyoo-jae, Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Park Joo-min and People Power Party Rep. Cho Kyung-tae. SBS has stood out in past elections with its eye-popping graphics that heavily reference popular culture. This year, it offered a 'Squid Game'-inspired segment in its election coverage program, "2025 People's Vote." SBS also debuted Korea's first extended reality live talk show as part of its election coverage. Titled 'Sseoltongryeong,' the segment turned the studio into a fully rendered 3D environment, transporting talk show guests to digitally recreated locations such as the National Assembly and the presidential office. Guests on the talk show included younger voices such as YouTuber Oh Chang-seok, host of YouTube political satire-comedy channel "President Namcheon-dong"; Park Sung-min, a former youth secretary at the Blue House; and Park Min-young, a People Power Party spokesperson. KBS turned to generative AI for its coverage titled "Vote That Changes My Life." Images depicting cities that were hotbeds of democratization movements and industrial landmarks served as a backdrop to the broadcast announcing the election results, with the network also operating from a dedicated studio for panel talks at the 'K-Cube,' located in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. KBS' analysis segment assembled a diverse panel of politicians and political pundits including Democratic Party members Lee So-young and Kim Sang-wook, the People Power Party's Kim Jae-seop, the New Reform Party's Chun Ha-ram and former JoongAng Ilbo editorial writer Kim Jin. The broadcasters also highlighted their proprietary vote prediction systems. MBC utilized its own system that integrated exit polls, historical data and live vote counts to forecast results, while SBS deployed 'Yoo-Hwak-Dang,' combining early exit polling with ongoing vote updates to calculate winning probabilities. Meanwhile, KBS used 'Decision K+,' a system that tracked candidate performance in real-time and categorized their chances of victory as 'likely,' 'certain' or 'elected.'
National Post
2 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Colby Cosh: The underrated power of Poilievre
I've been reading various election post-mortems this weekend, or catching up on them, having sensed that I ought to try to understand the federal Conservative arguments over whether to keep Pierre Poilievre as leader or dump him. This is probably harder than usual from an Alberta vantage point. The election was (foreseeably) decided in Ontario, and whenever I manage to talk myself into some convincing account of how the Ontario boomer swing voter thinks, I always end with 'But these same people keep electing Doug Ford.' Article content Article content Article content And that makes me suspect that the secret to politics is maybe just being lucky in your opponents, which Pierre Poilievre in 2025 just really wasn't. Don't get me wrong: I understand that Premier Ford has incredible, probably unsurpassed retail-politics ability. He's built from the ground up to be what he is — an accessible, authentic sort of super-mayor of English Canada. But the political analysts keep saying that Poilievre was somehow too much like Donald Trump to win at a moment when Real Trump was sowing chaos and fear in Canada. Article content Article content Get real, everybody. If you are really looking for the most Trump-like figure anywhere in Canadian politics, the person whose campaigning approach, sense of humour and overall demeanour are the most like Trump's … the answer is really, really obvious. It's the guy who keeps winning in Ontario, and who, like Trump, wins despite having little identifiable concrete political achievement beyond the winning itself. What was it George Orwell said about seeing what is in front of one's nose? Article content Poilievre has attracted critics inside his party despite a genuinely impressive election result. He is haunted by the rapid evaporation of a gigantic lead in the between-election polls, a lead that he and his controversial inner circle somehow developed. Many of the election coroners are convinced that Poilievre has a personality problem, that he lacks a 'softer side' and just can't connect with Ontario's suburban boomers. If so, it must be a problem that he suddenly developed this year, right around the time Justin Trudeau effed off into the gloaming. And the Conservative platform obviously wasn't the problem, since the Liberal victory was built unapologetically on its stolen planks. Article content What's obviously true is that the Conservative strategy was over-indexed on Trudeau, and that they didn't anticipate the Liberal abandonment of consumer carbon taxation — a cause for which they had squandered oceans of money, planetary volumes of public and provincial goodwill, and the best years in the lives of innumerable lawyers. Everybody knew long before the election that there was a possibility that Trudeau could be talked by his caucus and cabinet into leaving, and that Mark Carney, central banker to the stars, might end up being the replacement.
Korea Herald
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Broadcasters pull out all stops for election results coverage
Broadcasters vie for viewership, with high-profile panelists, dynamic visuals and proprietary voting prediction systems South Korea's major broadcasters went all-out for their live coverage of the June 3 presidential election, delivering eight-hour marathon programming that combined high-profile panel discussions and broadcasts with state-of-the-art generative AI. Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, which led the viewership rating during April's general election, returned with an impressive setup for "Election 2025." The network unveiled the largest LED screen ever used in Korean election broadcasting for displaying election results, expanding from a four-panel display to a six-panel display. Ceiling-mounted wire cameras provided sweeping shots of the studio for dynamic footage. 'Debate M,' a segment of the MBC's election coverage, featured a lineup of prominent figures including author Yoo Si-min, former Korea Economic Daily editor-in-chief Chung Kyoo-jae, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Joo-min and People Power Party lawmaker Cho Kyung-tae. The panel discussed election dynamics and offered insights into the country's political future. Seoul Broadcasting System has stood out in past elections with its eye-popping graphics that heavily reference popular culture. This year, it leaned into spectacle with a 'Squid Game'-inspired segment in its election coverage program, "2025 People's Vote" (translated). Computer-generated presidential candidates, wearing tracksuits reminiscent of those in "Squid Game," were shown competing in traditional Korean games to depict the race to win the election. SBS also debuted Korea's first extended reality live talk show as part of its election coverage. The segment, titled 'Sseoltongryeong,' changed the filming studio into a fully rendered 3D environment that transported talk show guests to digitally recreated locations such as the National Assembly and the presidential office. Guests on the talk show included younger voices such as YouTuber Oh Chang-seok, host of YouTube political satire-comedy channel "President Namcheon-dong"; Park Sung-min, a former youth secretary at the Blue House; and Park Min-young, a People Power Party spokesperson. Korean Broadcasting System turned to generative AI for its coverage titled "Vote That Changes My Life" (translated) -- a first for the national broadcaster. Images depicting cities that were hotbeds of democratization movements and industrial landmarks served as a backdrop to the broadcast announcing the election results, with the network also operating from a dedicated studio for panel talks at the 'K-Cube,' located in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. KBS' analysis segment assembled a diverse panel of politicians and political pundits including Democratic Party members Lee So-young and Kim Sang-wook, People Power Party's Kim Jae-seop, Reform Party's Chun Ha-ram and former JoongAng Ilbo editorial writer Kim Jin. According to Lee Min-young, head of KBS' Election Broadcast Planning Team, this year's coverage took on a more grounded tone. "Given that this election follows a presidential impeachment, we prioritized the public's call for democracy and a sense of returning to normalcy over celebration,' she said via KBS' press coverage of its election broadcast. Each broadcaster also highlighted its proprietary vote prediction system. MBC utilized its own prediction system which integrated exit polls, historical data and live vote counts to forecast results, while SBS deployed 'Yoo-Hwak-Dang,' combining early exit polling with ongoing vote updates to calculate winning probabilities. Meanwhile, KBS used 'Decision K+,' a system that tracked candidate performance in real-time and categorized their chances of victory as 'likely,' 'certain,' or 'elected.'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Here's how the Democrats running to be governor say they'll make New Jersey more affordable
The six Democrats hoping to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy have wildly different plans to rein in New Jersey's high cost of living. (Illustration by Alex Cochran for New Jersey Monitor) [Election 2025 Voter Guide: Eleven candidates are running in the June 10 Democratic and GOP gubernatorial primaries.] Affordability is perennially a top issue in New Jersey elections, and the six Democrats hoping to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy all have plans to bring down costs here in the Garden State. The Democrats, who are vying on June 10 for their party's nod for governor in November, have plans to lower costs that range from broad tax code changes that would place more of the burden on wealthy residents to expanded tax credits for families and low-income individuals to significant tax cuts for property owners. New Jersey's cost of living and tax burdens could well decide the race for the state's next governor. An Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill poll of New Jersey voters from earlier this month found 45% of respondents said the economy (including taxes) is the No. 1 issue facing New Jersey, followed by housing affordability at 12%. It remains to be seen how voters will judge Democrats' affordability promises after eight years under a Democratic governor. Neither party has won three successive terms as New Jersey's governor since 1961. 'If you're unhappy with the way things are going, you vote for a change. If you're happy with the way things are going, you vote for whoever's in charge,' said Dan Cassino, the director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll. 'So it's entirely plausible that voters are going to go to that voting booth and say, 'Well, New Jersey's unaffordable. We need a change. Let's vote for a Republican.'' Tax reform features heavily in Newark Mayor Ras Baraka's affordability plan. The progressive Democrat has proposed taxing the first $90,000 of income residents earn at 1.4%, the rate currently charged on the first $20,000 earned in a year, and reducing rates for those making less than $500,000. Under Baraka's plan, marginal rates would fall to 6.37% for those making at least $152,000, to 7.5% for those making at least $350,000, 9% for those with incomes of at least $500,000, and 10% for residents who earn at least $750,000. Those who make at least $1 million would pay more under Baraka's plan, and the state's top earners would pay the highest state income tax rates in the nation. Marginal rates for individuals making more than $1 million annually would range from 11% to 14% under Baraka's plan, with the highest bracket kicking in after $10 million in annual earnings. California's top state income tax bracket, the highest in the nation, taxes earnings above $1 million at 13.3%. Baraka says these changes would boost annual collections by about $2 billion. Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop also favors higher taxes for high earners. Fulop would create new tax brackets for those earning $2 million, $5 million, and $10 million per year. Fulop's affordability plan does not state the levels of the new brackets, but a New Jersey Policy Perspective report cited by his plan recommends they be set to 12%, 13%, and 14%, respectively. The think tank's report, published in November, says the changes would generate $1.2 billion annually. Fulop says he would like to raise the state's earned income tax credit — which offsets tax burdens for very low-income residents with credits worth between $253 and $3,132 in 2024 — to 50% of the federal benefit, from 40%. He's also proposed changes to Stay NJ, a new state program that aims to halve senior citizens' property taxes. Fulop would reduce the income limit for Stay NJ participants from $500,000 to $150,000 and make the program's credits flat and phased-in rather than based on a resident's property tax bill. Tax cuts lie at the center of Rep. Josh Gottheimer's affordability agenda. The five-term congressman's cost-lowering plan centers around a promise to reduce state and local taxes by a combined $5.9 billion through a raft of cuts, credits, and rebates. The state's average property tax bill in 2024 was $10,095 Gottheimer proposes requiring local governments to cut property taxes to receive an equal amount of state income tax revenue, echoing a Republican school-funding proposal from years past. Gottheimer's version proposes to move roughly $4.7 billion in annual costs from local ledgers to the state budget. Because property taxes are set locally, municipalities would have to act to lower them, and matching state funds would only be offered to those that undertake efficiency reviews that Gottheimer says would pay for his tax cuts. He says those reviews would cut 5% of state and local spending — $2.9 billion at the state level and $2.4 billion locally — by merging departments, unifying procurement offices, and even removing light bulbs from vending machines. Local governments billed a little less than $35.7 billion in property taxes last year, according to state records, meaning that across-the-board 5% cuts would have produced close to $700 million less than the $2.9 billion advertised by Gottheimer's plan. The congressman's property and income tax credits for renters, those with dependents, retirees, and businesses would reduce state revenue by $1.2 billion each year. Rep. Mikie Sherrill has eschewed proposing broad changes to the tax code, though she favors increasing award amounts for the state's child tax credit — a per-child refundable tax credit worth between $1,000 and $200, depending on income — and its earned income tax credit. She would also create a caregiver assistance tax credit for residents caring for elderly family members. Sherrill has not proposed specific levels for any of the tax credits. The congresswoman also proposes the return of a sales tax holiday for back-to-school items. The state implemented that in 2023 but halted it last year as the state's budgeting began to tighten. New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller's policy platform places little focus on affordability, at least in the realm of taxes. He says he would seek to expand the child and dependent care tax credits, which offset a portion of taxpayers' child care expenses, and boost other assistance for child care. The state's child and dependent care tax credit is set as a percentage of the federal benefit — $3,000 for a single filer or $6,000 for joint filers. At present, New Jersey's child and dependent care tax credit offers between 50% and 10% of the federal benefit, with those earning less than $30,000 receiving the largest credits and those making between $120,000 and $150,000 the smallest. Former state Sen. Steve Sweeney's affordability plan focuses on seniors. He has proposed a massive expansion of state income tax exclusions for retirees that would entirely eliminate all income tax for residents 65 and older with a household income of no more than $250,000. At present, residents 62 and over who make no more than $100,000 can exclude from their income taxes large portions of their pension income — $100,000 for joint filers, $75,000 for single filers, and $50,000 for married individuals filing separate returns. Those with incomes between $100,000 and $150,000 can exclude a percentage of their pension income from their taxes. A separate process calculates exclusions for other types of retirement income, and New Jersey does not tax social security benefits. It's not clear how much Sweeney's exclusion proposal would cost the state in foregone revenue. Sweeney also proposes lowering income limits for Stay NJ from $500,000 to $250,000. That program, due to issue its first half-year benefit in the fiscal year that begins July 1, is expected to cost at least $1.2 billion annually under current law. It's not clear how much money the state would save by halving the program's income limit. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
