Only 16% of voters still have confidence in Dutch Cabinet

Confidence in the Dutch government is at an all-time low. Only 16 percent of voters still have confidence in the Schoof I Cabinet. Half of VVD voters think the liberal party should team up with the left-wing next time, forming a centrist Cabinet with GroenLinks-PvdA instead of working with Geert Wilders’ PVV again, RTL Nieuws reports after surveying over 23,000 members of its news panel.

When the Schoof I Cabinet took office last summer it had the support of 37 percent of voters - a typical figure for a new Cabinet. That has now more than halved. Among people who voted for one of the coalition parties - PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB - a large majority had confidence in this Cabinet when it took office. Now that’s only a quarter.

“I see that voters mainly think that the parties bicker and argue too much among themselves,” said RTL pollster Gijs Rademaker. “They lack unity. Many also think that too few results have been achieved, and there is too little knowledge and experience in the coalition.”

VVD voters, in particular, seem to be done with this Cabinet. “I dare say that many VVD voters now have serious reservations about this coalition,” Rademaker said. “Last year, we saw that a large majority wanted to govern with Wilders’ PVV. That seems to be over now. If we ask them whether they would prefer to work with the PVV or with GL-PvdA in a next Cabinet, half choose Timmermans’ party, and only a fifth choose Wilders.”

VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz is the only coalition leader who has not lost support among her voters. 78 percent of VVD voters have confidence in her. The other coalition party leaders are less lucky, even PVV leader Geert Wilders, who seemed untouchable for years.

“For years, Wilders received confidence figures from his voters of around 100 percent. But since October, we have seen that confidence falling. First to 90 percent in October and now to 70 percent. I cannot remember ever seeing such figures for Wilders before,” Rademaker said. Critical PVV voters think that Wilders is not fulfilling his promises and blame him for harsh confrontations with the Cabinet. They also struggle with his positive attitude towards Donald Trump and his reluctance to invest in defense and Ukraine.

Confidence in BBB leader Caroline van der Plas fell from 85 percent in December to 66 percent now. Pieter Omtzigt only has the confidence of 23 percent of NSC voters.

At the same time, the leaders of the opposition parties are gaining support. Henri Botenbal scores the highest of the party leaders with the support of 93 percent of CDA voters. “The CDA is clearly on the way back and has also risen in all seat polls in recent months. Right-wing voters who say goodbye to BBB, NSC, and PVV regularly end up with CDA.”

Frans Timmermans enjoys the support of 72 percent of GroenLinks-PvdA voters. And Rob Jetten has the confidence of 86 percent of D66 voters.