Voting behavior

Abstract

Since the first competitive and fair elections in 1950, a total of 15 general elections have been held in Turkey. Election and voting studies consist mostly of descriptive aggregate-level analyses of election results. Individual-level survey-based studies have increased only with the publication of a few recent articles. This chapter has two objectives. The first is to outline the theoretical motivations and frameworks adopted as the foundation for explaining Turkish electoral preferences. The second is to summarize the main empirical findings in this literature using micro-individual-level data concerning the voting preferences of individual voters. There is also a sizable literature using macro data on election outcomes across various levels of geographic aggregation across Turkish provinces. However, their results will be only briefly touched upon to provide a basis for comparisons with the micro-level survey findings.