HS Gallup: Finns’ belief in government weakens
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According to a survey commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup in December, Finns do not very much believe in the government’s ability to handle the issues they consider to be important.
The survey showed that just over 30 per cent of the respondents regarded it as fairly likely or very likely that the government would be able to reach the goal that the Finns considered to be the most important one, while nearly 65 per cent of all respondents believed that the government would not succeed.
The number of sceptics has grown by nine percentage points since a previous poll taken in June 2007.
The poll also found that only a majority of those people who support the Centre Party have confidence in the good performance of the government, while in June, the greatest confidence in the government was shown by supporters of the National Coalition Party.
The survey was conducted so that the respondents were allowed to choose from a list of various issues which one they considered to be the most important goal of the Finnish government. Subsequently, the respondents were asked how likely the government was to reach this specific goal, in their opinion.
According to the respondents, the most important goal was again the ensuring of welfare services, while the reduction of poverty and social inequality was regarded as the second-most-important objective of the current coalition administration.
For example, the prevention of climate change, the stemming of unemployment, or the easing of taxation were all considered to be somewhat less important tasks.
The order of importance of the government’s tasks in the public mind has not changed since June 2007.
The poll involved telephone interviews with 1,000 Finns aged 18 years and over between December 3rd and 13th. The semi-autonomous island province of Åland was not part of the survey.
The first question was: "What is the most important goal of the government during this parliamentary term?" The second question was: "What is the second most important goal?"
Respondents were then asked for their views on how likely or otherwise it was that the government would succeed in their endeavours on this "most important" issue.
The margin of error was up to 3 percentage points in either direction.
Helsingin Sanomat
HS Gallup: Finns’ belief in government weakens