Politicized responses in survey on "culpability" for the disaster

According to an opinion survey conducted in Turkey during the last six days of February, more than a third of the surveyees think that it is the government who is mainly responsible for the scope of the disaster caused by the twin earthquakes on 6 February, while 26.9% blame the construction contractors, 15.4% the local administrators, 4.4% the citizens, and 12.9% all of them.

In the February survey conducted after the earthquake, the AKP's vote decreased by 4 points compared to January. pic.twitter.com/sFfnlIUauE

— Ozer Sencar (@ozersencar1) March 9, 2023

The results of the survey show apparently politicized opinions as the supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its far right ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) mostly blame the contractors, respectively with rates of 46.2% and 43.6%, while the supporters of three opposition parties - Republican People's Party (CHP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Good Party - blame the government with rates ranging between 60.4% and 62.8%.

Among AKP supporters, the participants who say the government is responsible constitute 6.4% of the total, and among the supporters of MHP, a mere 3.4%.

7% of AKP supporters and 4.7% of MHP supporters say citizens themselves are mainly to be blamed for the destruction caused by the earthquakes.

The opinion survey was conducted by MetroPOLL with the participation of 2,118 people in Turkey's 28 provinces.

MetroPOLL's director Ozer Sencar also said on Twitter without providing further detail that the voter support for AKP fell by 4 percentage points compared to January according to the results of a recent poll.