Podcast45 percent of Turks would not vote for Erdoğan in possible election, poll finds
Some 40.1 percent of Turkish citizens would vote for Erdoğan, whereas 45.1 percent would not, if Turkey held a presidential election today, according to a recently conducted poll. The remaining 14.8 percent on the other was undecided. The poll also found that Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu would be the strongest candidate against Erdoğan as he would garner 36.8 percent of the votes in a possible second round of election.
Duvar English
Some 45.1 percent of Turkish citizens would not vote for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a possible presidential election, pollster Optimar found.
A total of 2,212 people in 26 provinces in Turkey participated in the poll held between Aug. 10-12. The participants were asked if they “would vote for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan if a presidential election was held today,” Sputnik reported on Aug. 20.
Some 40.1 percent said they would vote for him, while 45.1 percent said they would not. The remaining 14.8 percent on the other hand was undecided.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) would be the strongest candidate to stand against Erdoğan in an election, the pollster also found.
In a possible second round of election, Erdoğan would garner 45.1 percent of the votes, whereas İmamoğlu 36.8 percent of the votes, the poll found. Some 18.1 percent of the voters would be undecided between the two politicians.
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, again from the CHP, was behind İmamoğlu with 36.7 percent. Yavaş was followed by Muharrem İnce with 33.5 percent -- a former presidential candidate from the CHP who recently established his own breakaway political movement.
Former president Abdullah Gül and former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) chair Selahattin Demirtaş came second-to-last and last in the poll respectively, with 21.3 and 16.9 percent saying they would vote for them in a possible presidential election.