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The Finnish broadcaster emphasized that the results represent a historic change in public attitudes towards the military alliance, and the share of supporters has risen by 34 per cent since the previous poll was repeated in 2017. In January, less than a third (30%) of the public expressed support for joining the alliance. Survey of MTV News By economic research.
“The situation has literally turned on its head. The numbers of supporters and opponents have practically changed. Juha Rahkonentold the research director of Economic Research to YLE on Monday.
A breakdown of the results by party reveals that support for membership is highest among Coalition supporters. It is noteworthy, however, that supporters of membership also form a majority among supporters of other political parties, with the exception of the Left Alliance.
“Until now, the voters of the Coalition Party have been alone in favor of NATO membership, but now the voters of the Left Alliance are the only opponents,” Rahkonen summed up.
According to the report, support for membership would rise to 63 per cent if Finland’s political leadership were in favor of joining, and to 66 per cent if Sweden applied for NATO. Opponents of membership in these scenarios fell to 23 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
A similar result was obtained by a survey commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat in February.
YLE also asked the respondents whether a referendum should be held on membership. More than four in ten (41%) said they were in favor and almost half (48%) were against putting the matter to a referendum.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page