Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu more popular than Erdoğan for presidency: Poll

Duvar English

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu is more popular for the role of president than President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to a November survey conducted by Piar Research, a private polling company.

The survey was conducted with 2,416 participants in 26 different cities. When asked who they would vote for in a general election, 44.5 percent said they would vote for İmamoğlu as president, and 39.7 percent said they would vote for Erdoğan.

As for the ruling party in parliament, 31.9 percent would vote for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) while 24.7 percent would vote for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

Some 10.6 percent of the participants said they would vote for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) while 10.2 percent would vote for the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and 9 percent would vote for the İYİ (Good) Party.

Babacan's party to get more votes than Davutoğlu's

Some 7.7 percent of participants, meanwhile, said they would vote for the new party expected to be formed by former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, while 3.4 percent of participants said they would vote for the one expected to be formed by former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

'Turkey's biggest problem is the economy'

When asked about what they perceive as the biggest problem in Turkey, 34.2 percent of the participants named the economy, while 60 percent said that they don't think the economy will get better in the short term.

Sixteen percent of participants think that unemployment is Turkey's primary problem, 11 percent think Turkey's foreign policy in Syria is the biggest problem and 10.4 think education is the primary issue in Turkey.