Finns Party support in freefall, Social Democrats picking up defectors

              A fresh poll has put the Finns Party in fifth place in party approval ratings. Conducted for the leading circulation daily Helsingin Sanomat, the poll shows that the government first-timer now commands just 11.4 percent voter backing.

In its latest political barometer Helsingin Sanomat described support for the Finns Party as being in freefall since its election triumph in April. According to a poll conducted for the paper by TNS Gallup, less than half of Finns Party supporters saying they would vote for the party in an election now.

                    

          Interpreting the poll results, HS said that voters have withdrawn their support for the Finns Party because of their disappointment with its policies since it’s been in government. Many former party followers have now defected to the ranks of other parties, leaving the nationalist party with just 11.4 percent voter approval, it noted.

SDP making good on Finns Party losses

         The main opposition party, the Social Democrats have been the main beneficiary of the disaffection of Finns Party backers, and according to the HS poll, now holds second position in the approval ratings, with 18.3 percent voter backing. Pollster Sakari Nurmela of TNS Gallup speculated that the numbers may reflect a return to the fold by SDP voters who had previously transferred their allegiance to the Finns Party. During one month since the previous poll, the Finns Party hemorrhaged 4.2 percent of its support, while the SDP picked up 3.3 percent.

Juha Sipilä’s Centre Party remains the party with the greatest electorate support with 22.2 percent approval, while Alexander Stubb’s National Coalition Party has settled into third place with an approval rating of 17.7 percent.

Greens, Left Alliance inching forward

          The Greens, led by Ville Niinistö, have also cashed in on the unpopularity of eye-watering government austerity cuts. The poll shows the party holding the narrowest of leads over the Finns Party with 11.5 percent backing. Given that the poll’s margin of error is two percentage points in either direction, any celebrations by the Greens may  well be premature.

Meanwhile the Left Alliance also saw an uptick in its approval rating, which rose to 8.6 percent. Support for the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats came in at 4.4 percent and 3.3 percent respectively. The numbers indicate that the Greens have best been able to keep their supporters in the fold. Up to 83 percent of them said they would vote for the party if an election were held now.

          The HS poll results are broadly consistent with another barometer released by Yle roughly two weeks ago. That survey showed that the Centre enjoyed the highest level of voter support, followed by the SDP. It also placed the Finns Party in fifth position.

The HS poll was conducted by pollster TNS Gallup between September 14 and October 16. Researchers interviewed 2,428 respondents.

Yle Finland