More people disapprove of the performance of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as Turkey’s president than approve of it, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Ankara-based MetroPOLL polling company.
The results of MetroPOLL’s monthly “The Pulse of Turkey” survey for February have revealed that 47.8 percent of Turks disapprove of Erdoğan’s performance as president, while his approval rating remained at 46 percent. Some 6.2 percent of respondents said they have no idea or gave no answer when asked whether they approve of Erdoğan’s performance as president.
The survey also showed that 9.9 percent of all voters who supported the AKP and 28.3 percent of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voters in the 2018 general election disapproved of Erdoğan’s performance. The AKP and the MHP are election allies that established the Public Alliance before the 2018 polls.
Erdoğan, whose ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been in power as a single party government since 2002, was elected president in 2014 and reelected in 2018. His election in 2018 was under a presidential system as Turkey switched from a parliamentary to a presidential system of governance with a public referendum in 2017. Under the presidential system, Erdoğan is accused of establishing one-man rule, destroying the separation of powers and silencing dissent.
The AKP government launched a massive crackdown on non-loyalist citizens following a failed coup in July 2016 as thousands of people were jailed on trumped-up terrorism or coup charges.