Populist PVV losing more support in the polls

By Janene Pieters on February 22, 2017 - 14:40
Geert Wilders Purmerend borders closed
Geert Wilders in Purmerend handing out flyers against the opening of an asylum reception center there. Oct. 6, 2015 (photo: PVV). (Geert Wilders in Purmerend handing out flyers against the opening of an asylum reception center there. Oct. 6, 2015 (photo: PVV))

Geert Wilders and his PVV is continuing to steadily lose support in the polls. In the Peilingwijzer published on Wednesday the PVV and the VVD are about equally large The PVV stands between 24 and 28 parliamentary seats, the VVD between 23 and 27. 

the PVV stood at between 25 and 29 seats. Since December the party lost six seats in the polls. The VVD has been on basically the same position for weeks. 

According to research I&O Research, the PVV's declining support may be partly attributed to the VVD strategy of refusing to work with the PVV in the next government - potential PVV voters don't want to vote for a party that won't make it to government, NOS reports. For the VVD the strategy is not brining in any net profit. It is true that more voters will vote for the VVD because the party won't form a government with the PVV, but the VVD is also losing voters to other parties because they feel that the VVD is too close to the PVV in content. 

It is too early to say whethes will have any effect on the polls.

With only three weeks to go until election day on March 15th, the other parties on the Peilingwijzer are relatively stable. The three largest parties after the PVV and VVD are also on basically the same level - the D66 and CDA both have between 16 and 18 seats, GroenLinks has between 15 and 17. Behind those three are the PvdA with between 12 and 14 and the SP with between 11 and 13. 

The smaller parties also show a stable picture. 50Plus still has between 8 and 10 seats, ChristenUnie is at 5 to 7 and the SGP and PvdD are between 3 and 5. DENK stands at between 0 and 2 seats, and new parties VNL and Forum voor Democratie are both between 0 and 1. 

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