Dutch coalition losing favor with 18 weeks to Senate elections

By Janene Pieters on January 21, 2019 - 13:10
Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte. (Photo: Corepics/DepositPhotos)

With the Senate elections in the Netherlands less than 60 days away, the Rutte III coalition is losing favor among voters. According to the latest poll by Maurice de Hond, three of the four coalition parties would lose a significant number of seats if the parliamentary elections were held today. All in all, the coalition would lose about a third of their parliamentary seats.

The VVD dropped 11 seats from the 33 they got in the parliamentary election, the CDA and D66 each dropped nine seats to 10 each. ChristenUnie is the only coalition party not hemorrhaging support, going up one seat in the polls to six.

Populist party FvD is gaining significant support in the polls, climbing from its 2 parliamentary seats to 15 seats. Geert Wilders' PVV, on the other hand, lost two seats dropping to 18. Other parties that are gaining ground include the PvdA up from 9 to 16 seats, GroenLinks up from 14 to 17, DENK up from 3 to 7, and animal party PvdD up from 5 to 8 seats. 

Van der Hond polled voters on how much they trust the party leaders in parliament. SP leader  Lilian Marijnissen was ranked 1st, followed by ChristenUnie leader Gert-Jan Segers, PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher, PvdD leader Marianne Thieme, and CDA leader Sybrand Buma. DENK's Tuhanan Kuzu came in last (13th) place, SGP's Kees van der Staaij in 12th, PVV leader Geert Wilders in 11th, and new D66 leader Rob Jetten in 10th. 

VVD leader Klaas Dijkhoff lost a significant amount of voter trust over the past months. While he was ranked first in October 2017, April 2018 and September 2018, he dropped to 7th place this month. When asked about Dijkhoff's recent statements about the climate agreement, and how he will not help it be implemented, 72 percent of voters said that this is mainly election rhetoric. 51 percent thought he was right to make these statements, 42 percent though he should be more guarded with his words as the leader of the largest coalition party, and 20 percent said the VVD is out to collapse this government. 

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