The popularity of the government led by the Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) is declining, according to an opinion poll published by Kantar TNS and Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday.
Just under half, or 48 per cent, of respondents now believe that the government has succeeded fairly or very well in its mission. Until a year and a half ago, the corresponding figure was 71 percent.
The Marin government remains the most popular over the past decade. HS has surveyed Finnish governments one to three times a year since the autumn of 2011, and Marin’s government still managed to get the fourth best result in the history of measurement. The three most popular results also go to the Marin government.
The decline in the government’s popularity is likely due to a dispute between the governing parties, differences of opinion sparked by the forthcoming municipal elections, and media visibility surrounding the prime minister. Marin’s much-discussed nightclub visit took place during the voting period.
Slightly more than half, or 53 percent, of Finns estimate that Marin has been very or fairly successful in his work. He is the most popular minister in the current government, according to the poll. However, Marin’s popularity has clearly declined since the summer of 2020, when his support was 80 percent. One in four defendants now said the prime minister has done a bad job.
The downgrade of both the Prime Minister and his government is due to a lack of approval from the main opposition parties, the Coalition Party (NCP) and supporters of Basic Finland.
For example, 36 percent of NCP supporters now rate Marin’s performance as fairly or very good – from 55 percent last summer.
Haavisto, Andersson next most popular
The second most popular minister in the survey is the Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green). His popularity has recovered from a year ago, when only 22 percent thought he had done his job fairly well or very well. Now the corresponding figure has risen to 46 percent.
The third most popular minister in the study is the Minister of Education Li Andersson (left), whose work is considered good by 38% of respondents. However, his popularity has fallen from 52 percent in mid-2020.
HS also looked at the presidential approval rating Sauli Niinistö.
Niinistö received little or no criticism for his performance in foreign policy: 87 percent said he did a good job, and only 2 percent gave the president a bad rating.
Niinistö seems to be valued by all sections of the population, but especially by the retired and the low-skilled.
The research material was collected through telephone interviews from 30 November to 11 December. In mainland Finland, just over 1,000 adults were interviewed. The author of the opinion polls estimates the margin of error as a plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Source: The Nordic Page