About 60 percent of people would support Finland’s accession to the NATO Military Alliance, according to the results of the Values and Attitudes survey conducted by the Finnish Business Forum (Eva).
The result It represents 34 percentage points of support for Finland’s membership compared to a similar poll last autumn, and is the highest level of support for NATO membership since Eva began its poll in 1998.
According to the latest survey, only 19% of respondents would oppose such a measure, up from 40% last time.
"Russia has shown that it does not respect the integrity of its neighbors," Eva’s Research Manager, Ilkka Haavistowrote in a press release about the results of the study. "The war in Ukraine has concretely shown the horrors of the defensive war in Finland’s own territory and made it clear that NATO countries cannot use their military forces to defend a non-aligned country."
Eva, Yle’s polls collect similar results
The results of the Eva survey are largely in line with the views of a survey published by Yle last week, according to which support for NATO membership had risen to an unprecedented 62 per cent, while opposition fell to just 16 per cent.
Most respondents to the Eva survey said they want a decision to be made soon, preferably this year. 41 percent hoped political leaders would call before the summer, while 19 percent said Finland should make a change before the end of the year. .
Only six per cent said they would leave the decision after next year’s parliamentary elections.
The study also showed that political leaders ’views on NATO membership are no longer as impressive as they used to be. About 48 percent of respondents said they supported the membership application, regardless of whether the prime minister and president would support it. In previous opinion polls, the views of political leaders influenced the opinions of respondents much more.
However, if the Prime Minister and the President expressed their support for membership, the number of supporters of joining NATO would rise to 67 percent, according to the poll.
Sweden’s application for membership would also be a significant support factor, raising the level to 69 per cent, and only 11 per cent said they would not want Finland to join the alliance even if Sweden applied.
The perception of threats is growing
The public’s perception of Finland’s national security has gradually become more cautious since the beginning of the 21st century, and now only one in ten says that Finland has no real military threats.
This is a significant drop from 50 per cent, who said that Finland was not threatened in a similar survey in 2007. By comparison, three out of four respondents now believe that Finland is a real threat.
In addition, two out of three said they believed that it would be safer for Finland to be a member of NATO than a non-aligned nation, especially as a neighbor of Russia.
According to the Eva survey, support for NATO membership was also higher for men than for women, while supporters of the Coalition Party (NCP) and the Swedish People’s Party were the clearest supporters. The issue was found to be much divided among supporters of the Left Alliance, with about a third in favor and a third opposed joining the alliance.
The survey was conducted by Taloustutkimus on 4-15 May. March, and 2,100 people responded to the online survey. The margin of error is 2-3 percentage points in each direction.
The latest episode of Yle News’ All Points North podcast considers the question of Finland’s NATO membership. You can listen to the entire podcast on the embedded player here, through Yle Arena, Spotify, Apple podcasts or anywhere you get podcasts.
The article continues after the sound.
Source: The Nordic Page