Approval rating of opposition ally alarmingly low among AKP voters, survey reveals

Approximately 20 percent of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) voters do not have a favorable view of Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an election ally of AKP leader and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to the results of a survey.

The “Pulse of Turkey, October 2020” survey, conducted by the Ankara-based Metropoll polling company, showed that 19.8 percent of AKP voters do not favor Bahçeli, while 76.4 percent said they have favorable views of the MHP leader and 3.8 percent the respondents gave “no answer” to this question.

Erdoğan and Bahçeli established the Public Alliance ahead of the presidential and general elections of 2018. Bahçeli extended his support to Erdoğan to realize his goal of switching Turkey from a parliamentary system to a presidential system of governance through a referendum in 2017.

Bahçeli has the lowest approval rating among supporters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) at 93 percent, the Felicity Party (SP) at 86.9 percent and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) also at 86.9 percent.

With regards to Erdoğan’s approval rating, the survey showed he has the highest approval among MHP voters following the voters of his own party, with 83.9 percent of respondents saying they approve of Erdoğan, while 13.7 percent said they do not favor him and 2.4 percent refused to give an answer.

A striking result of the survey was the 35.7 percent approval of Erdoğan among voters of the Gelecek Party, which was established by Ahmet Davutoğlu, a former AKP politician and prime minister.