In the latest political trend study by SONAR Research, the size of the undecided and poll-averse electorate stood out more than party preferences. In the study, the total rate of those who said they were undecided, those who stated they would not go to the polls, those who did not express an opinion, and those who expressed that they would cast an invalid vote was measured at 33.1 percent.
This picture pointed to a group of voters larger than any single party in the research results. The size of this mass, defined in political commentary as "floating voters" or "disaffected voters," has become one of the defining issues in terms of potential electoral balances.
THE UNDECIDED BLOC IS CHANGING THE BALLOT BOX CALCULATION
According to the raw distribution of the poll, 11.9 percent of participants gave the answer "I am undecided." While the rate of those saying "I will not go to the polls" was 10.5 percent, the rate of those stating they had no opinion or did not want to answer was announced as 6.9 percent. The rate of protest voters saying "I will cast an invalid vote" was measured at the 3.8 percent level.
SONAR Research President Hakan Bayrakçı stated in his assessment of the results that the rate of voters avoiding expressing an opinion in the field has reached a remarkable level. Emphasizing that he has been conducting political research for many years, Bayrakçı said that he has encountered a picture of this scale for the first time.
I have been conducting political research for 38 years. In my life, I have never seen such a high percentage in the field where people do not want to answer questions, do not express an opinion, or say 'I am undecided,' 'I will not go to the polls,' or 'I will protest.' This is the first time I have encountered something like this. With this data, it has become almost impossible to predict what kind of result will emerge at the ballot box when an election is held.
In the table prepared by proportionally distributing the undecided and non-opinionated voters among the parties, the AKP took the first place with 29.7 percent. The New Party placed second with 28.2 percent. The fact that the gap between the two parties narrowed to 1.5 points led to comments that the race is running close.
According to the same distribution, the IYI Party was measured at 10.9 percent and the DEM Party at 9.0 percent. The MHP's vote share was announced as 4.9 percent, and the CHP's vote share as 3.0 percent. The research revealed that persuading undecided and poll-averse voters will be of critical importance in election strategies.
News Source: 12punto
