AK Party leads narrowly, Ankara Mayor Yavas tops popularity: Poll
Mansur Yavas and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AA Photo)
A survey by AREA Research shows that the AK Party has maintained its narrow lead over other political parties while the most popular opposition candidate remains Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas.
The “Türkiye Political Agenda Survey – January 2025” was conducted on Jan. 22-24, 2025, across 26 provinces, including Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Antalya, Gaziantep and others. Covering 87 districts that represented both rural and urban areas, the study included 2,022 participants aged 18 and older.
The key findings of the poll were as follows:
- If Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas were to run as the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate, 51.6% of respondents indicated they would vote for him, making him the candidate with the highest level of support.
- If Yavas ran as an independent his support would drop to 43.9%, marking an 8% drop
- In a three-way race, if the opposition is unable to agree on a single candidate, the responses were as follows:
- Recep Tayyip Erdogan: 30.6%
- Yavas as an independent candidate: 28%
- Ekrem Imamoglu as an independent candidate: 27.9%
Mansur Yavas enjoys highest approval rating
Mayor Yavas enjoyed the highest approval rating out of the various Turkish political figures. Some 57.4% of survey participants approve of his tenure.
Notable approval ratings are:
- Ankara Mayor Yavas: 57.4% approve, 36.9% disapprove
- Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu: 42.8% approve, 51.1% disapprove
- President Erdogan: 42.2% approve, 54.6% disapprove
- National Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli: 29.1% approve, 65.8% disapprove
- CHP leader Ozgur Ozel: 24.9% approve, 66.3% disapprove
