Survey: People aged 18-24 find Turkey’s Presidential system ‘unsuccessful’

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The Socio-Political Field Research Center has shared the results of its survey on current developments and voters' tendencies in Turkey.

The surveys were carried out in the provinces of İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara, Konya, Samsun, Trabzon, Bursa, Muğla, Antalya, Adana, Mersin, Erzurum, Ağrı, Kars, Diyarbakır, Urfa, Mardin, Batman, Van and Siirt between December 28, 2021 and January 2, 2022.

As part of the survey, the participants were first asked what they think the most important problem of Turkey is. While 65.6 percent opted for "economic crisis and unemployment", 12.5 percent chose "absence of democracy", 9.9 percent referred to the "Presidential system", 5.6 percent to the "current state of the legal system" and 5.3 percent to "Kurdish question".

When they were asked whether they find the Presidential Government System successful, 60 percent said that they find it unsuccessful while 24.3 percent find it successful and 15.7 percent were indecisive.

While 72.8 percent of male participants said that they find the system unsuccessful, this rate was lower among women.

The ones in the 18-14 age group, who will vote for the first time at next elections, find the system "very unsuccessful" more when compared to other age groups, the survey results have shown further.

NOTE: Turkey was previously governed by a Parliamentary System. The "Presidential Government System" was approved in a referendum on April 16, 2016 and entered into force on July 9, 2018.

Economic crisis and government policies

When the participants were asked whether they think the latest economic policies of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government will take the country out of the economic crisis, 25.9 percent said that they do believe that it will. While 20 percent were indecisive, 54.1 percent of the participants think that the government will fail to do it. 

The highest rate of participants who said that it will fail to do so is the highest among male participants and in the 18-24 age group.

When asked about the necessity of a snap election in Turkey, 56.0 percent answered in the affirmative while 24.2 percent said, "No".

'Who would you vote for?'

The participants were also asked, "In the current situation, would you vote for existing alliances?". While 33.3 percent said that they would vote for the ruling People's Alliance, 32.7 percent said that they would vote for the Nation's Alliance of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the İYİ Party. 13.2 percent were indecisive. 

While 12.5 percent said that they would vote for an alliance only in the event that the political party that they support was a part of the alliance, 8.3 percent "would not vote for any under any circumstances."

According to the survey, 37 percent of the participants voted for the ruling AKP in the general election on June 24, 2018 while 22.9 percent voted for the CHP, 13.2 percent did not cast votes, 9.1 percent voted for the İYİ Party, 8.5 percent for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and 7.3 percent for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a partner of the People's Alliance.

When the same people were asked for which party they would vote in the event of an election in Turkey this sunday, 27 percent opted for the ruling AKP, 22.9 percent for the main opposition CHP, 11.9 would be indecisive, 10.3 percent would vote for the İYİ Party, 9.4 percent for the HDP, 6.3 percent for the MHP, 5.7 percent would not vote, 2.9 percent would vote for the DEVA Party of Ali Babacan, 2.1 percent for the Future Party of Ahmet Davutoğlu and 0.7 percent for the Felicity Party (SP).

When the results are analyzed, it is seen that there is a 10-percent drop in the potential voters of the AKP. Moreover, the highest rate of floating voters are among the AKP voters, according to the survey.

AKP barely over 32 percent

When the ones who said that they would not vote or have not yet made up their minds are proportionally distributed, the rate of votes to be received by the AKP stands at 32.8 percent, that of the CHP at 27.8 percent, İYİ Party at 12.5 percent, HDP at 11.5 percent, MHP at 7.6 percent, DEVA Party at 3.5 percent, Future Party at 2.5 percent and SP at 0.8 percent.

38.1 percent of the ones who said that they were indecisive described the reason for this by saying, "We must first see the policies of the parties" while 22 percent said that "they do not trust political parties." 20.2 percent stated that "they do not have information about parties" and 19.7 percent said that their indecisiveness is "stemming from the economic crisis." (RT/SD)