Housing market, immigration, healthcare still Dutch voters’ main concerns

Dutch voters are increasingly focused on housing, immigration, and healthcare as the most important issues in the upcoming elections, according to research by EenVandaag. The survey of over 25,000 Opiniepanel members found that only 19 percent of voters now list climate change among their top five priorities, down from 30 percent two years ago.

Housing remains the single most pressing issue for many voters, surpassing climate as the top concern for GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 supporters. Among GroenLinks-PvdA voters, those citing climate as a top issue dropped from 78 percent in 2023 to 50 percent, while ChristenUnie support fell from 66 to 28 percent.

International and security issues are also increasingly shaping voter priorities. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the war threat from Russia, and the Trump presidency have reportedly elevated defense and international politics as urgent matters, particularly among center-left voters.

Other voter groups, including CDA, VVD, SP, and NSC supporters, have historically never placed climate at the top of their list, and their concern has continued to decline: CDA from 28 to 15 percent, VVD from 21 to 10 percent.

GroenLinks-PvdA leader Jesse Klaver said that while climate remains important to his party, other issues dominate voter attention. “In previous years, climate was a bigger issue,” he said. “Things were going reasonably well in the Netherlands on climate until the last cabinet took office. The performance really lags. The chance that we will still meet the climate goals is almost zero. That is really due to failing government policy.”

He added that his party will continue to keep climate on the agenda: “For us, it always remains at the top. That is one of the reasons we wrote the Climate Act in 2019. That ensures annual reporting on the state of the climate.”