78
Murat Önder & Niyazi Karabulut
as the ethnic origins of the candidates for the young voters, the candidacy of the candida-
tes, and the fact that they are from the ruling party are not very effective in the local elec-
tions. They found that younger voters prefered more the reasons such as the candidate’s
projects, the feasibility of candidate promises and the level of education of the candidate.
The voting age has been an important factor in the development of modern parliamen-
tary democracies. There has been little focus on explaining and understanding support
for lowering the voting age, and especially on the ways that the electoral area affects
such attitudes and behaviours (Larsen and others, 2016:437-438). Approximately ages
between 18 and 35 are described as youth and as an important turning point and starting
point in the individual’s life (Sinanoğlu, 2006:224). However, Dermody and Hanmer-Lloyd
(2004:203) emphasize that abstention at elections is becoming more visible across all
generations, and especially youth voting behaviours in the west supporting this process.
Research Methodology
In this survey, only the voting behavior of young voters was examined. There are plenty
of studies on political factors that had an effect on voting behavior generally. The lack of
studies based on the tendency of young people to vote and the lack of data on this sub-
ject were observed. Especially in terms of local election, it is important to investigate the
behavior of young voters in the context of making more understandable the political life
of the future. In this context, the work of Çavuşoğlu and Pekkaya (2016) on Bulent Ecevit
University regarding the political behavior of young voters in local elections may be an
important reference source. It was realized that in their studies only the voting behavior
of university youth has been measured and 400 students were surveyed in the study. But
Damlapınar and Balcı (2014) surveyed 1,177 people in a survey conducted after the 2009
Ankara local elections, in this study voting behaviors toward local elections of a total of
692 young voters were measured.
Considering the findings of Çavuşoğlu and Pekkaya (2016), in this study it will be en-
devaoured to measure voting behavior of young electors with the help of data provided
in the study of Damlapınar and Balcı (2014). Çavuşoğlu and Pekkaya (2016) observed
four (4) essential factors for voting behavior of the young voter’s. These are the service
experience of the candidate, the projects of the candidate, the feasibility of the candida-
te’s promises, and the level of education of the candidate. Damlapınar and Balcı (2014)
examined the variables that affect voting in 6 groups. These variables are the candidate
itself, the party of the candidate, the media publications, the probability of winning the
election of the candidate, the relation of the candidate to the electorate, the current state
of the country and the conjuncture. Therefore, the hypotheses of this study were tested
based on the data and the factors that influence voters’ voting behavior in the above two
studies.
