Turkey’s Young Voters Central to Its Election Results

Pollsters suggest the values of Turkey's youth are counter to many of Erdoğan's policies, which may impact the election's outcome

Walking out of a school-turned-polling station on Sunday in one of Istanbul’s liberal neighborhoods, Onur, 26, said he hoped Turkey’s hotly contested elections would mean a different society emerges on Monday.

It’s not about ideology but about wanting to see change. It’s about wanting freedom and democracy.

“It’s not about ideology but about wanting to see change,” he told The Media Line. “It’s about wanting freedom and democracy.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is facing the greatest electoral challenge since he entered power more than 20 years ago.

The man with the best chance of replacing him is Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, of the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), who is leading a coalition of six parties and is also getting the back of the other opposition parties.

A key factor that could help him beat Erdoğan is not just the popularity he has among youth but the among of young voters in this election.

Six million voters will have lived in Turkey only with Erdoğan as leader and nearly 8% of the electorate will have the ability to cast a ballot for the first time.

Pollsters have said that those voters are interested in democratic rights that Erdoğan’s critics accuse him of eroding, such as press freedom.

Erdoğan has dominated television news during the election campaign, with Kılıçdaroğlu getting much less coverage from the mainstream media which is often owned by Erdoğan’s allies.

However, Onur said that young people like him get their information from other sources and don’t spend time watching the news on television because they don’t trust what is reported.

Social media has become important in accessing independent information.

Kılıçdaroğlu will post talks from his modest kitchen on his Twitter account in the evenings daily.

Social media has become a popular way to criticize those in power as it allows users to do so in secret out of fear of being detained as some have for their posts.

That fear is also felt on Turkey’s streets.

In the opposition stronghold of Besiktas, two young people said they would not answer questions about the elections.

“Closed,” said one woman as she motioned to zip up her lips.

Andrew O’Donohue, a doctoral candidate focusing on democratic backsliding at Harvard University, has been carrying out surveys about the impact of Erdoğan’s rhetoric on voters and why they support him during Turkey’s economic crisis.

At a rally he attended for the Turkish president, O’Donohue told The Media Line that it was clear that many were still strongly supportive of him.

“What’s striking is just how receptive people have been,” O’Donohue said.

He added that Erdoğan has been targeting campaign promises at young voters, such as offering free internet and computers.

“It’s a constituency where Erdoğan knows he’s vulnerable and he’s effectively trying to use spending policy to win them back,” he said.

The strained Turkish economy, with an official inflation rate reported at 44% in April, has put a major dent in Erdoğan’s popularity.

Inflation has impacted prices for everything from utilities to food, with market stalls and restaurants constantly taping over the prices on signs with higher rates.

Even some of Erdoğan’s opponents have credited him with a significant improvement in living standards and developing the country.

However, with the current economic crisis, economists believe it is Erdoğan’s decision not to increase interest rates, an unorthodox economic principle for combatting inflation, that has led to much of the country’s financial woes.

Erdoğan has also struggled to improve his ratings in areas where he was traditionally strong.

A poll by Metropoll done last November after a deadly bombing on Istanbul’s main shopping street showed that the Turkish president’s approval rating went down by 2.5%, defying expectations by some that security concerns would be a boost to his popularity.

But with the elections expected to be close, many have remained loyal to Erdoğan.

Kadir, 26, and the six young men in his group say they are supporting the Turkish president for re-election and his Justice and Development (AK) party.

He called Erdoğan a great leader and claimed that Kılıçdaroğlu is a terrorist.

The Turkish president has repeatedly connected his main challenger to the Kurdish militia, the PKK, which is categorized as a terrorist organization by Turkey and the US.

Kılıçdaroğlu has been supported by the pro-Kurdish HDP, an influential party during elections that could swing a vote.

Erdoğan has accused the party of being connected to the PKK, which it denies.

Kadir acknowledged that prices were rising for food but said they will become rich.

“If Erdoğan leaves, this will become another Syria,” he said.

I like Kılıçdaroğlu. He’s a very nice guy.

Mert, 24, a waiter, moved to Istanbul in March after his hometown of Hatay was hit by February’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people.

He lost his brother, nephew, and many friends, he says as his eyes water.

Mert said he is supporting Kılıçdaroğlu because he feels like he can trust him and believed Erdoğan had “no chance” of winning.

Mert said he wanted Turkish society to continue to have freedoms, such as drinking alcohol.

While alcohol is readily available, it has become increasingly expensive as taxes increase on it, which Erdoğan’s critics believe is ideologically driven.

“I like Kılıçdaroğlu,” Mert said. “He’s a very nice guy.”

He expects Kılıçdaroğlu will help the economy improve, adding more jobs and increasing people’s income while he says Erdoğan has not made promises for helping young people fulfill their dreams.

“I want to travel [to] new countries,” he said.