Comparing the efects of political marketing practices in voter preferences according to demographic features: A study in Mersi̇n province

Marketing is used when conducting political activities as well as it is used in the introduction of services and products. The main purpose of political marketing is to market a thought or a person. Political parties, leaders and candidates representing political elements must influence voters in order to win the election by reaching a higher voting potential than their competitors. As the programs and rhetoric of political parties begin to resemble each other by the way of advances in technology and influence of globalization, ideologies lose their former importance. This fact pushes the political parties to know the structure and characteristics of the electorate and to develop different marketing strategies. In this study, it is tried to be presented whether the influence of political marketing practices in the preferences of Mersin province voters according to demographic characteristics. In line with this purpose, questionnaires were conducted with 150 voters. In the light of the data collected, the information and findings obtained as a result of different statistical analyses were interpreted with the results and some academic and practical policy proposals were made. In conclusion, political parties should develop different political marketing practices by taking into account the demographic characteristics of the voters in order to influence voter preferences. Keywords: Political marketing, voter preferences, demographic features, nonparametric statistics.