Surveys show people in Turkey lose hope in the economic policies of the government

Latest surveys revealed a sharp drop in support to the ruling block in Turkey as low income households struggle to get through soaring prices in the worst cost of living crisis since decades. 

According to Gezici Resarch’s latest survey, 44.8 percent of the voters said they saw the opposition block Nation’s Alliance as the savior of the economy while the ruling People’s Alliance, consisting of (AKP) Justice and Development Party and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) had confidence only from 40.3 percent of the voters. 14.9 percent of the voters are undecided. 

Official data shows annual inflation in Turkey as 78.6 percent but a group of independent economists called The Inflation Research Group says that Turkey’s true level of annual inflation stands at 175.55 percent.

“The diminishing purchasing power and unmet basic needs accumulated anger towards the ruling parties. Today most of the people see the government as a group living disconnected from the realities of people” said Murat Gezici, the president of Gezici Research. 

“76 percent of the people says that the Erdogan administration cannot fix the country's economy” Gezici said. 

On Friday, Banks Association of Turkey Risk Center reported that more and more people relied on credit to save the day as unpaid consumer debt increased by 55 percent to 30.5 billion Turkish liras in the first 5 months of the year.

Meanwhile, a separate research company MAK Consultancy compared last year’s numbers from twelve surveys showing the steep decline in People’s Alliance votes.

The surveys showed that People’s Alliance lost 8 percent of its votes and stands at 34,1 percent while the Nation’s Alliance gained 9 percent and stands at 51,3 percent. 

“The voter behavior proves a period of high permeability between alliances. The canals carrying water to the Nation Alliance are open” said Mehmet Ali Kulat, chairman of the MAK Consultancy.