Dutch voters show little enthusiasm for still-forming new Dutch govt: study

The people of the Netherlands are currently not very enthusiastic about the still forming government of VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie, according to a study Ipsos did on behalf of broadcaster NOS. Only a quarter are positive about a government consisting of those four parties, around 33 percent are negative about it and over 40 percent have no strong feelings either way, NOS reports.

The lack of enthusiasm doesn't mean that Dutch voters necessarily think that there should be a different coalition. On the question of which opposition party the respondents would rather see in the cabinet, 21 percent answered GroenLinks, 19 percent answered PVV, 11 percent said SP and only 9 percent said PvdA. There is also little resistance to the parties currently taking part in the formation talks. The ChristenUnie faces the most resistance - 29 percent of respondents would rather not have the Christian party in the next cabinet.

The government formation process seems to be annoying a significant proportion of the Dutch. Over half said that the fact the formation is taking so long is bad for their confidence in politics. And half also said that the parties aren't open enough about what is happening in the negotiations.

Once the new government is formed, a large majority of Dutch think its first order of business should be addressing health care. 69 percent of respondents named health care as one of the top three most urgent topics. Education came in second place with 32 percent, followed by security with 29 percent, improving the purchasing power of the elderly with 26 percent, and immigration and asylum with 25 percent. A Budget Day poll by EenVandaag had environment and climate as a priority above security, immigration and asylum.

A large majority of respondents are negative about the Rutte II government's health care policy. 35 percent said they were negative and 32 percent said very negative. Something less than a quarter gave the health care policy a positive. On other issues like the economy, the Rutte II government scored better. 32 percent of respondence said that Rutte II had a positive influence on the economy, and 25 percent said negative.

All in all, the respondents gave the departing Dutch government a score of just under 5.5 - barely below a sufficient. The Rutte II government scored around a 5.5 throughout its term, according to NOS. The highest score it ever got was a 6, just before the elections last year.