{"id":189291,"date":"2024-10-16T09:56:36","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T13:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=189291"},"modified":"2025-08-08T14:44:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T18:44:04","slug":"how-people-in-turkey-view-democracy-and-other-forms-of-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2024\/10\/16\/how-people-in-turkey-view-democracy-and-other-forms-of-government\/","title":{"rendered":"2. How people in Turkey view democracy and other forms of government"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A third of Turkish adults are satisfied with the way democracy is working in their country, while the other two-thirds express dissatisfaction. More than a third (37%) say they are not satisfied at all<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since we last asked this question in Turkey in 2019, satisfaction with democracy has dropped 14 points, from 47% to 33% today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turks who hold a favorable opinion of President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan are more likely than those who see him unfavorably to express satisfaction with democracy (65% vs. 9%). And Muslims who pray five salah daily are more likely than those who pray less frequently to have a positive outlook on their democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, only 13% of those with a positive opinion of former opposition leader Kemal K\u0131l\u0131\u00e7daro\u011flu \u2013 Erdo\u011fan\u2019s opponent in the May 2023 presidential election \u2013 are satisfied with the way democracy is working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views of different political systems<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n

Is Turkey a democracy?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Turkey is a parliamentary democracy<\/a>, according to its constitution. In practice, the government is classified as a \u201chybrid regime\u201d by the Economist Intelligence Unit<\/a>, an \u201celectoral autocracy\u201d by the Varieties of Democracy<\/a> project, and \u201cnot free\u201d by Freedom House<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Turks greatly prefer democratic types of government to nondemocratic systems like rule by the military or by a strong leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight-in-ten Turkish adults say that a representative democracy (a system where representatives elected by citizens decide what becomes law) would be a good way to govern the country. An almost identical share (79%) says the same about a direct democracy (a system where citizens, not elected officials, vote directly on major national issues to decide what becomes law).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only 14% in Turkey say that military rule would be a good way of governing, making it the least popular political system we asked about. However, support for this system has risen from 9% in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turks\u2019 evaluations of various government systems are generally comparable to the results of a 24-country survey we conducted in 2023<\/a>. Turks are within a few points of the 24-country medians when it comes to their support for representative democracy, rule by experts and rule by the military. On direct democracy and rule by a strong leader, Turks express a slightly more positive view than the median respondent.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views of autocratic leadership<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Views on autocracy vary across different groups in Turkey. Roughly half (49%) of those who hold a favorable opinion of Erdo\u011fan think that rule by a strong leader would be a good way to govern the country, compared with 23% of those with an unfavorable view of the Turkish president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adults with lower levels of education are more likely than their counterparts with more education (37% vs. 21%) to say autocracy would be a good way to govern the country. (The \u201cless education\u201d category refers to people who have a secondary education or less, while the \u201cmore education\u201d category refers to those with a postsecondary education or more.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Turkish adults ages 50 and older are 15 points more likely than adults under 35 to say that autocracy would be good for Turkey (43% vs. 28%).<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A third of Turkish adults are satisfied with the way democracy is working in their country, while the other two-thirds express dissatisfaction. More than a third (37%) say they are not satisfied at all. Since we last asked this question in Turkey in 2019, satisfaction with democracy has dropped 14 points, from 47% to 33% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":648,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"bylines":[],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":true,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,395,115],"tags":[],"bylines":[624,633,2366],"collection":[],"datasets":[2789],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[516],"research-teams":[525],"class_list":["post-189291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democracy","category-international-political-values","category-world-leaders","bylines-jacob-poushter","bylines-laura-clancy","bylines-sofia-hernandez-ramones","datasets-spring-2024-survey-data","formats-report","regions-countries-europe-russia","research-teams-global"],"label":false,"post_parent":189282,"word_count":499,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2024\/10\/16\/how-people-in-turkey-view-democracy-and-other-forms-of-government\/","art_direction":{"A2":{"id":189484,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/10\/pg_2024.10.16_turkey_feature.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/10\/pg_2024.10.16_turkey_feature.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"caption":"President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan of Turkey attends a press conference during the 75th NATO summit in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2024. 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