Recent polls revealed an increase in undecided voters, now reaching 17% of the electorate, with most coming from AKP ranks. AKP largely holds on to its conservative-Islamist constituencies, but the outer layer of its support namely former center-right voters and those who flocked to the party because it managed to deliver 15 years of uninterrupted prosperity, are now peeling off. These may be eyeing to join the two new center-right parties, i.e. Ali Babacan’s DEVA and Ahmet Davutoglu’s Future Parties. President Erdogan needs a quick turnaround in the economy to regain these loosely affiliated voter segments, but according to a new survey by Socio-Economic Field Research Center, the odds for that are low.
According to Bianet, Socio-Economic Field Research Center has shared the results of its research regarding the attitude and perception of the voters as to the main problems of Turkey and their possible solutions.
The research is based on a survey conducted with the participation of 1,248 people from 18 provinces, namely İstanbul, İzmir, Adana, Ankara, Diyarbakır, Van, Batman, Antalya, Bingöl, Erzurum, Antep, Hakkâri, Konya, Mardin, Mersin, Samsun, Şırnak and Dersim.
Survey: Economy number one concern
As part of the survey, the participants were first asked, “What do you think is the biggest problem of Turkey?” 35.7 percent of the participants answered that it was the “economy/unemployment.” While 20 percent said that it was the “Kurdish question,” 14.7 percent answered that the “Presidential Government System” was the chief problem of Turkey.
The rest of the answers given to this question were respectively as follows: “Absence of democracy” (10.6 percent), “current state of the legal system” (6.6 percent), “Gülen Community/FETÖ” (6.3 percent), “current government” (3.8 percent), “environment of conflict and violence” (1.6 percent) and “lack of opposition” (0.7 percent).
15.1 percent: No party can solve these problems
After this question, participants were asked, “Considering the chief problem that you mentioned, how do you think this problem can be solved?”
The answers and percentages were as follows: “Increasing the areas of employment” (16.8 percent), “the government’s adoption of solution-oriented policies” (16.5 percent), “change of Presidential Government system” (14.4 percent), “change of government” (9.8 percent), “the change of policies oriented towards causing tension in Turkey and abroad” (9 percent), “It cannot be solved” (8.3 percent), “strengthening of local economy” (7.9 percent), “existence of peace” (6.9 percent), “existence of equal citizenship” (5.8 percent), “a return to EU accession process” (1.6 percent), “a change in foreign policy” (1.6 percent), “struggle against poverty” (1.4 percent).
Of the participants who said that Turkey’s chief problem was the “economy/unemployment”, 47 percent said that it could be solved if the number of employment areas was increased.
While 36.4 percent of the ones who regarded “the absence of democracy” as the biggest problem ravaging Turkey said that “this problem could not be solved,” 41.4 percent of the ones who viewed the “current state of legal system” as the biggest problem said that “it could not be solved.”
The participants of the survey were also asked “which party they thought were the closest to solving Turkey’s important problems.”
The answers and percentages were respectively as follows: Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) (27.1 percent), main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) (21.2 percent), Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) (10.3 percent), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) (7.9 percent) and İYİ Party (7.2 percent). 15.1 percent of the participants were of the opinion that none of the political parties would be able to solve these problems.
‘Which party would you vote for today?’
When they were asked which party they voted for in the last general elections on June 24, 2018, 35.5 percent opted for the ruling AKP, 23.4 percent for the main opposition CHP, 10.6 percent for the HDP, 9.3 percent said that “they did not vote,” 9 percent said that they voted for the İYİ Party and 3.5 percent for the Felicity Party (SP).
Of the ones who previously voted for the AKP, 9.5 percent said they would vote for the DEVA Party of Ali Babacan, who resigned from the AKP, and 6.3 percent said they would vote for the Future Party of Ahmet Davutoğlu, who also resigned from the party after serving in senior positions.
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