Anti-Islam, Anti-Refugee PVV climbs higher in new poll

In just one week, the anti-refugee PVV party has climbed in political support, and would gain the equivalent of another three seats compared to a week ago. If elections were held today, the PVV would own 33 seats, up 21 over what the party currently has, according to the latest figures by Dutch pollster Maurice de Hond. These figures are one seat reduced from numbers released last week by polling firm Gfk. The gain in support has been closely connected to the party's close-the-borders stance amid a flood of asylum seekers headed to Europe as Syria sunk further into civil war. Party leader Geert Wilders, a staunch anti-Islamist, has repeatedly made statements suggesting ISIS was using the migration as a way of taking down western civilization, stoking fear in the Netherlands despite assurances from Dutch intelligence agencies that there is no evidence supporting Wilders' claim. It equates to a gain of about nine seats for the PVV over the last month has seen the SP, CDA and D66 all losing seats of four, three and one respectively. The poll has also revealed that support for the two coalition parties, the right-wing VVD and left-wing PvdA, has dropped by 49 seats when compared with the election of 2012, while an eighteen seat increase has by seen by the PVV over the same period. The PvdA gained a seat in the last week to 10, while the VVD dropped one to 20. The poll by De Hond revealed that the PVV as at its highest level since October 2013, when the left-right coalition government needed opposition parties to drum up support for a compromise that ended a two-week budget crisis. At that time it polled at 34 seats when Wilders called the agreement a disaster for the country. The deal included a 1.5-billion euro tax cut, 650 million euros to improve education quality, 300 million for social security for freelancers, and more money for child care subsidy, free textbooks, defense and small business loans. Taxes on cars and water were increased that year, while many business subsidies were cut.