A new public opinion poll conducted by the MetroPOLL research company has revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s job approval rating is 49.8 percent, while 42.1 percent of the country does not approve of the job he’s doing.
In the survey, titled “Turkey’s Pulse March 2018,” 8.1 percent of respondents left the question about whether they approve of Erdoğan’s way of doing his job unanswered.
When asked whether they welcome an election alliance between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in the general and presidential elections of 2019, 45 percent of MHP supporters said they are against such an alliance.
The ruling AKP and the MHP have already joined forces for the 2019 elections, with MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli saying his party would not field a presidential candidate but would support the candidacy of current President Erdoğan.
To a similar question asking whether it is necessary for opposition parties to make election alliances with each other, 27.5 percent of respondents said “Yes,” while 36.9 percent were against. The remaining 35.7 percent of respondents said they have no opinion.
The Grand Unity Party (BBP) has also announced it will take part in the alliance with the AKP and the MHP.
On the other side, Felicity Party (SP) leader Temel Karamollaoğlu has called on the other opposition parties to come together under an “alliance of principles,” a proposal that has been welcomed by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the İYİ Party.
With a constitutional amendment approved in a public referendum in April 2017, Turkey switched from a parliamentary system of governance to a presidential system.
The job approval rating for CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu came out at 19.4 percent, while 68.8 percent did not approve of his performance. Among CHP supporters, Kılıçdaroğlu’s job approval rating was 56.4 percent.