The support of the coalition is still exceptionally high
NATIONAL COALITION support may have decreased slightly, but it is still the most popular political party in Finland.
YLE on Thursday reported that 23.4 percent of respondents to its latest poll expressed support for the right-wing opposition party, a drop of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month.
“Kokooma’s support is still at an exceptionally high level,” he summed up Tuomo TurjaResearch Director of Economic Studies.
He noted that the party has recently polled at a level not seen since the 2011 parliamentary elections, which marked a shift from a political landscape dominated by three parties to one dominated by four medium-sized parties.
– The coalition voted at its peak in the spring with 26 percent and now with 23 percent. Such a long-term and wide lead over other parties is quite exceptional, he said.
The party’s popularity fell by about two percentage points after the allegations against it Will Rydman, a 36-year-old legislator from Helsinki. Although the Central Criminal Police (KRP) has since announced that it will start a preliminary investigation into the case, it has not caused any more problems for the association.
“Rydman’s case has been put to bed for the time being until new information is received. It did not attack the coalition, Turja analyzed.
Support for the Social Democrats continued to rise for the third month in a row, rising from 19.8 percent to 20.3 percent. The ruling party, on the other hand, does not seem to have much influence on Fortum and Uniper, the German subsidiary of the majority-owned energy company of the Finnish state.
Minister of European Affairs and Ownership Management Titti Tuppurainen (SDP) had to speak to the media numerous times during discussions about how to save Uniper, which is based on natural gas.
Basic Finns’ popularity rose by 0.8 points to 16.1 percent, which helped it tighten its grip on the position of the third most popular party in Finland. The approval rate in the center fell from 11.8 percent to 11.0 percent.
“[The Centre’s] the decline has not been particularly steep, but it has added 2.5 points since April. There is not necessarily a clear political explanation for this, Turja analysed.
He added that the center seems to have suffered losses due to the movement of voters between different right-wing parties. “The national coalition has gained supporters from the center. The popularity of basic Finns, on the other hand, has risen slightly in the summer. The survey shows that support also flows from the Center to the Basic Finns.
The popularity of the Greens, the Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats fell moderately – to 9.3%, 4.4% and 3.0%, respectively. The support of the Left Alliance increased by 0.3 points to 8.1 percent, and the support of the Movement Now movement by 0.1 points to 2.2 percent.
Taloustutkimus contacted 2,831 people for the survey between July 6 and August 2. About 70 percent of them (1,996) could and wanted to reveal which party would get their vote if the parliamentary elections were held now.
The elections are scheduled to be held on April 2, 2023.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT