Assessing changes in Turkish public opinion: Current trends and future prospects

Abstract

It would be unfair underestimating the accumulated knowledge and efforts which target to assess public opinion on certain issues and put forward effective plans. However many of the research aiming to analyze public opinion handle the issue mostly during political election periods and they do not have much idea about the different actors and factors that would be effective in the formation of public opinion. There is only a few research done in Turkey that measures public opinion regularly. Therefore this study aims to bring together different variables who address different aspects of the issue. This research will reveal what the public thinks about current issues in Turkey and whether the recent trends have any reflections on social political and cultural structure of the country. The data collected with this research may not only provide important insights into public's opinion regarding current and potential issues in Turkey but could also guide policymakers in shaping the public policies. By doing this study regularly the author intents to contribute to social sciences literature and argues that increasing the frequency and quality of academic exchange on public opinion research would be a vital part of wider actions that could be taken on different policy measures. The outputs of this study may also encourage scholars and researchers from different fields and backgrounds to study and discuss public opinion with its complex dynamics and milieu of dimensions.