Public confidence is low in Mark Rutte’s fourth Cabinet: Survey

The Rutte IV Cabinet will have a lot to prove to the Netherlands population. A massive 82 percent of Netherlands residents have little to no confidence in the plans the VVD, D66, CDA, and ChristenUnie presented in their coalition agreement on Wednesday, Hart van Nederland reports after polling 3,100 members of its opinion panel. 

"That Cabinet will first have to prove itself. I have little confidence in it," the program quoted one respondent. 

The coalition's plan that can count on the most support is the 3 billion euros in tax cuts earmarked to relieve working people, families, and the middle-class. 61 percent of Netherlands residents support this. Plans to increase the minimum wage and reinstate the basic study grant also got majority support, at 57 and 52 percent respectively.

46 percent think scrapping the landlord levy and using that money to build more homes is a good idea. And 41 percent of respondents agree with plans to stimulate healthy eating with a sugar tax and 0 percent VAT on fruit and vegetables. 

Netherlands residents are less enthusiastic about plans to invest 35 billion into fighting climate change over a period of ten years. Only 23 percent support this investment, intended for subsidies for wind farms and solar energy and home insulation, among other things.