VVD support falls towards 45-year low, but party still backs leader Dilan Yeşilgöz
Support for political party VVD has fallen to a low point not seen since 2009, said political pollster Maurice de Hond. If elections were held this week, the party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte would only receive 13 seats in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament. That would be 11 fewer seats than the party won over a month ago during the recent election, and just marginally better than polling in 1966 and 1967.
Still, a majority of support remained for new VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz among her own party membership. She has divided her party members by firmly saying the VVD will not join a Cabinet with the PVV, led by Geert Wilders, but that it was willing to offer tacit support in Parliament for a center-right Cabinet. Though she has taken part in a series of Cabinet formation discussions, she said that only those parties which won more support during the November election should serve on the Cabinet.
Far right political party PVV won the most seats in the recent election, with 37. If voters went back to the polls this week, the PVV could expect to win 48 seats, nearly a third of the 150 seats in the Tweede Kamer. De Hond said it was the highest the PVV has ever polled since it was founded in 2006.
Other parties which would make out ahead in a new election would include D66 and BBB, which would generate a hypothetical gain of two seats for each, while the CDA and Volt could gain one each. The left-wing alliance of PvdA-GroenLinks has seen a fall in support equivalent to three seats, NSC would drop two, and Ja21 would lose its only MP.
A survey of 3,083 people commissioned by Hart van Nederland found that Yeşilgöz still maintained the support of more than half her VVD party members. About 55 percent of those who voted for the VVD said she should not resign, and that she should continue to have the opportunity to participate in Cabinet talks, and possibly reverse her position.
About 40 percent want Yeşilgöz, the current justice minister, to step down as party leader. One voter remarked that by unilaterally refusing to work directly with the PVV she has reversed one of her campaign positions.
The VVD's Tweede Kamer leader before Yeşilgöz, Sophie Hermans, was a popular choice as a popular successor. Some 37 percent of VVD voters would choose her as the new party leader. Hermans joined Yeşilgöz in the latest round of Cabinet formation talks. Christianne van der Wal would have the support of 15 percent of VVD voters, and Eric van der Burg would hold 12 percent.
Among voters and non-voters, Hermans would be supported by 25 percent to take over for Yeşilgöz if she stepped down. Van der Burg would carry 21 percent, and Van der Wal would receive 11 percent.
