Survey: Over 70 percent of AKP voters think Turkey's economy is bad

Image: MaxPixel

A new survey by the Aksoy Research company has found that an overwhelming majority of the public, including the supporters of the ruling party, think that the country's economy is "bad" or "terrible."

When asked about the current situation of the country's economy, 54.2 percent of the respondents said "terrible," 30.6 percent said "bad," 11.3 percent said "same." Only 3.9 percent think the economy is "good" or "excellent."

Among those who stated that they had voted for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the 2018 elections, 34.8 percent said the economy is "terrible" and 38.4 percent said it is "bad."

Similarly, for most of the voters of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the allies of the AKP, the economy is not well. More than 73 percent of the MHP supporters said the economy is "terrible" or "bad."

The most important problem

When asked about what the country's most important problem is right now, an overwhelming majority of 70.2 percent of the respondents said it is the economy. Ten percent of the respondents said it is "justice."

The share of those who are optimistic about the future of the economy slightly increased in March, according to the survey. While only 16.7 percent of the respondents said last month that it would improve, 23 percent of the respondents were optimistic this month.

Still, over 60 percent of respondents said the economic situation will worsen and 16.4 percent said it will remain the same.

Respondents' views about the sharp increase in the sunflower oil prices widely differ among the voters of different parties.

Sunflower oil prices

While the supporters of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) tend to blame the government's failure to take measures, voters of the AKP and the MHP said grocery stores' opportunism was the main reason for the price hikes. Voters of the İYİ (Good) Party, the allies of the CHP, were in the middle.

Among all voters, 39.1 percent blamed the government, 34.2 percent blamed the grocery stores, 13.8 percent cited the "increase in production costs" and 12.9 percent cited the Russia-Ukraine war for the increase in sunflower oil prices. (VK)