More trust in gov't with new Cabinet taking office, especially among lower educated
Trust in the national government has increased significantly now that a new Cabinet is about to take office in the Netherlands, increasing from a record-low of 29 percent in September 2022 to 42 percent in June 2024, according to figures from research agency Ipsos I&O. The increase in confidence accelerated since the election and the formation of a new coalition and is mainly visible among people with a lower level of education, the group that votes for the PVV more than average, NOS reports.
Highly educated people still have the most confidence in politics, but the gap has narrowed, Ipsos I&O said. People who voted for PVV, NSC, and BBB, in particular, gained more trust in the national government. “People expect that the government will finally solve major problems,” Ipsos I&O researcher Peter Kanne said. “Especially because there is now a real right-wing Cabinet at the controls, people really expect improvement.”
Kanne noted that voters with a practical education give a stronger political interpretation to the statement “trust in the government” than voters with a university-level education. “That is a good development, which can ensure that voters who have dropped out will join again. But it also has a risk: what if the high expectations are not met?”
Mark Bovens, a professor of public administration at Utrecht University, noticed that the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB’s coalition agreement substantively tailored to the less educated. He mentioned terms like “the strictest asylum regime ever” and the emphasis on increasing the speed limit back to 130 kilometers per hour and halving the healthcare deductible. And many of their plans are detrimental to academics, such as cuts to science and the climate fund and a VAT increase on books and newspapers.
Bovens sees roughly two potential scenarios for having the radical-right PVV at the helm. Things could go the way of Donald Trump, who increasingly turned away from the rule of law, he told NOS. “But it is also possible that the PVV will develop as the N-VA has done in Belgium or Leefbaar in Rotterdam. The latter party was very radical but has developed into a reliable party that is prepared to take administrative responsibility and now even governs with DENK.”
