A RESEARCH ON THE ROLE OF ELECTION CAMPAIGNS AND POLITICAL MARKETING IN THE FORMATION OF VOTER PREFERENCES IN TURKEY

Yıl 2012, Cilt: 12 Sayı: 24, 403 - 426, 01.12.2012

Süleyman Karaçor Perihan Gözüm

Öz

Today, as the political parties and the politicians need to be marketed just like a
product, one of the most important goals is to attract the consumer, i.e. the voter. Because
of this goal, politics is now the most important product of the popular culture. In Turkey,
it was during the period of the Ottoman Empire that the introduction with election, which is one of the democratic rights, took place as the democracy developed. The behaviour of
the voter has a nature difficult to explain, just like the consumer behaviour. Because of
this, it is necessary to increase variety and continuously improve comprehension in the
researches and analysis (Uztuğ, 2004:167). Political parties are the associations that are
established with the aim to take on the conduct of government, in more general terms the
political power, and to administer the internal and external affairs of the government in
accordance with their own principles and opinions. This goal separates the political
parties from the associations and the workers’ unions. Political parties are established
with the participation of people that have pretty much the same opinions and beliefs
regarding the general principles required for managing a government and the adjustment
of the political, economical and social structure of the country. Political parties have the
possibility to survive as long as they are embraced by broad communities of people.
During this process, the voter takes the place of the consumer in political marketing.
(http://blog.milliyet.com.tr/izmirli)
During the campaign period, the political parties and the candidates are in a race to
present themselves to the voters in a positive perspective. They do this by using
billboards, advertisements in the newspapers, speeches made in outdoor meetings, having
these meetings presented in the news, discussion programs on TV channels with the
participation of the party members and the symbolic gentry such as academicians and
journalists and, for a while now, by presentations in internet despite a limited general
access. Even though the campaign period looks like a competition of the equals, this
situation consists only of equality in front of the law. In reality, the campaigns are the
races of those unequal with regard to their financial resources and their capabilities of
collection, guidance and utilization of these resources. The parties that represent the
interests which remain in the minority are the ones with the biggest disadvantage in this
race. It is the media that has to help them overcome this negative situation. However,
when we look at the common practices and the format of the news, it is observed that the
media gives more and bigger place to the parties in power, that have a place in legislation
and that sustain the propulsion, but ignores the parties that are under the vote boundary
and that could not reach this situation. Advertising presents the political product,
organization, leader and the ideology. The publicity of the political party, the candidates
and the promises help them to be adopted and to increase the volume of the votes.
Devotion to the political parties and the candidates is more than the devotion to the
product in conventional marketing (O’Cass, 2001:1010). In order to achieve this devotion,
the political marketers advice the parties and the candidates to direct their attentions to the
voters that will vote for the first time. This is because if the first-time voters are brought to
the party then their attachment to the party can be permanent. For this reason, the parties
need to make polls about what kind of characteristics the voters search for and pay
attention to in the candidates they prefer. This is the only way they can gain the devotion
of the voters to the party and the candidate (Lees-Marshment, 2002:124).
The voter expects the opposition parties to explain themselves, to exhibit their
differences from the government party and to announce to the public how and what
problems they will solve when they accede, instead of just being opponent to the
government party. Results of many studies show that the complications and chaos that
take place during the campaign periods in our country undermine people’s trust in politics
and alienate young generations from the politics. It should not be forgotten that as the
candidates are evaluated by the voters, unfavourable advertisements have negative impact, as well as favourable ones have positive. In fact, it is believed that negative information
about the candidate has more influence on candidate preferences than the positive
information (Klein, 2005:131).
Politicians not only contact the masses at the meeting arenas, but also get in touch
with the voters one-to-one. In Turkey, unlike the Western communities, election works
are not only carried out in formal ways but also in informal ways. Informal works of
election are realized mainly by activities such as house and site visits, face-to-face
contacts and holding on to the opinion leaders. It is known that women play a very
important role in informal work in the last 20 years. It is possible to summarize the
identifications of the study in a few points: first of all, the personal performances of the
party leaders, the image they create in the minds of the voters and the confidence they
inspire to the voters play a big role in the voters’ preferences. Secondly, the staff,
programs, ideologies and performances of the parties are found to be another element that
influences the voters. The voter builds identicalness and becomes a supporter depending
on the program and ideology of the party. It might be said that majority of the voters in
Turkey gather around the parties in this way. Concentration around parties is a thing that
happens independently from and before the election campaign (www.hurfıkırler.com).
It is possible, even though a little, to determine whether the votes are used taking into
account the advertisements used in the election campaigns , out of their sympathy for the
leaders or in accordance with the ideological opinions. However, it is the subject of this
article to research how conscious the voters are in their decisions, which elements they
take into account when making a choice and what direction is the voters’ perception
regarding the political marketing practices. A number of sampling and statistical methods
were used.
As a result, today the execution way of the election campaigns are questioned in the
public opinion. It is not approved to call to the emotions and put the persons and images
forward, instead of social demands and political suggestions, during the campaign. Usage
of the politics and marketing concepts side by side creates doubt of manipulation. It is
considered that the advertisers, public relationship experts etc. that the politicians often
refer to during the campaign periods transform the politics to advertising discourse. The
vague discourses of the party leaders, instead of giving ideological messages, are not
looked with favour. Politicians misleading the voter with insubstantial promises create a
lot of negative reaction. The points about the election campaigns that bother the voters are
based on two basic judgements: The first one is the concern that the democracy might be
emptied by being alienated from reality and rationality due to the campaign practices. The
second one is the fear of the voter from being manipulated and deceived. The voters give
vote to the parties that voice the problems of the community or, even if they don’t voice,
that are considered to voice the problems with their stance

Anahtar Kelimeler

Election Campaigns, Voter Preference, Parties, Voter

TÜRKİYE’DE SEÇMEN TERCİHLERİNİN OLUŞMASINDA SEÇİM KAMPANYALARI VE SİYASAL PAZARLAMANIN ROLÜ ÜZERİNE BİR ARAŞTIRMA

Öz

Kamu Sektöründe modernizasyona duyulan ihtiyaç genelde vatandaşların hükümetlerine olan güvenlerinin seviyesinin düşük olmasından hareketle ortaya çıkar. Demokratik anlayışın egemen olduğu ülkelerde parti ya da adaylar seçmenlerden güven ve destek isterlerken; onlara bir takım ikna edici mesaj iletmek zorundadırlar. Seçmenler, yerel ve genel seçimlerde oy kullanırken farklı faktörlerden etkilenmektedir. Buna bağlı olarak da tercihini belirlemekte ve oy verme davranışında bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, özellikle seçim dönemlerinde yapılan politik pazarlama uygulamalarının seçmenler üzerinde etki oluşturup oluşturmadığını belirlemektir. Bu doğrultuda, seçmenlerin siyasi partilere oy verme gerekçeleri kampanya dönemlerinde yapılan politik pazarlama çalışmalarıyla bağlantılı olarak incelenmektedir. Ayrıca, kampanyalardan seçmenlerin beklentilerinin ne olduğu üzerinde durulmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Seçim Kampanyaları, Seçmen Tercihi, Partiler, Seçmen