Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) and Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (PS) prepared to hold a press conference about the situation at the border between Finland and Russia in Helsinki on 12 December 2023. Both the National Coalition and Finns Party registered an up-tick in voter support in the final weeks of 2023, according to a poll conducted for YLE by Taloustutkimus. (Markku Ulander – Lehtikuva)
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POPULAR SUPPORT has crept up for all members of the ruling right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP), shows the latest opinion poll commissioned by YLE.
The National Coalition saw its popularity creep up from 22.6 to 22.9 per cent, the Finns Party from 17.0 to 17.6 per cent, the Christian Democrats from 3.6 to 4.1 per cent and the Swedish People’s Party from 3.6 to 3.9 per cent.
“The National Coalition is increasingly clearly the most well-supported party in Finland,” Tuomo Turja, the research director at Taloustutkimus, commented to YLE on Thursday.
Support for the Finns Party, he added, appears to have settled around the 17-per-cent mark. “That’s roughly where it has been already for four consecutive months.”
Popular support for the four ruling parties thereby stands at 48.5 per cent.
The Social Democratic Party held comfortably on to its status as both the most popular opposition party and second most popular party in general, despite seeing its popularity decline by 1.3 percentage points to 21.0 per cent.
Turja pointed out that support for the opposition party dipped by more than a point for already the second consecutive month. The party, he added, is losing support primarily to the sidelines rather than to other parties, with a “relatively large share” of people who voted for it in the previous elections now describing themselves as undecided.
Elsewhere, the changes are fairly minor. Support for the Centre fell by 0.4 points to 10.1 per cent, while the Left Alliance saw its popularity stay at 8.6 per cent. Similarly to the Social Democrats, the Green League saw its popularity fall by 0.7 points to 7.7 per cent as its supporters appeared to disengage, said Turja.
Taloustutkimus interviewed 2,581 people for the poll between 29 November and 2 January. Over two-thirds, or 1,868 of the interviewees were able and willing to reveal which party they would vote for if the parliamentary elections were held now.
The results have a margin of error of 1.9 points.
The polling period coincided with political debate about the situation at the eastern border and the parliament approving widespread cuts to social security benefits.
“The government’s message has been that the Finnish public economy is in weak condition and something has to be done. It may be that the government’s message has resonated with voters,” analysed Turja.
The opposition, meanwhile, was unable to challenge the government – at least in a way that would have elevated its popularity.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
