The effect of post-1980 economic policies on voter's behaviour in Turkey

In societies that adopt democracy, voters have an important role in determining the power. The determination of voter power is influenced by a variety of factors when making immediate decisions. It occupies an important place in economic factors as well as socio-cultural and psychological factors affecting the behavior of the electorate. In evaluating the performance of power, economic performance was generally seen as a priority factor for voters. For this reason, governments that come to power through democratic elections often manipulate the economy through economic policies such as money and fiscal policy, creating a favorable economic environment for voters who have a say in country administration. In this way, in order to be re-elected, they try to influence the tendency towards voter behavior by manipulating the economy through monetary and fiscal policies before and during the election. Unfortunately, not enough research has been conducted on voter behavior, which has such an important role for politics and economy, and the effect of voter behavior on economic variables has not been elaborated. In recent studies, it is inadequate to follow the change and transformation of voters in a healthy way. It is compulsory to examine the behavior of a small number of voters after the election and to increase their work definitely. Voters, who freely form their opinions, attitudes and ideas, make their choices freely through elections. From this point of view, the effect of the economic policies implemented by the government on the voter behavior is tried to be analyzed by the elections which the voter is free and expresses himself easily. In this thesis, the effect of economic results on voter behavior has been tried to be elaborated by using basic economic indicator data and general election results as of 1980. While showing voter behavior, it was emphasized which economic indicator gives priority in general elections. With the results of the economic policies study implemented after 1980, it has been endeavored to determine whether voter participation in the elections, whether it takes economic factors into consideration or not, is against its policies. According to the results obtained from the elections held between 1980 and 2016, it was concluded that the behavior of voters was influenced by economic variables. In fact, it has been observed that voters are more focused on the problems such as unemployment and inflation, especially in times of crisis.