HS Gallup: Gender not decisive in Finland's presidential election

Dependability and fair-mindedness score highly

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A poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by the market research company Suomen Gallup shows that the gender, Christian conviction, or party affiliation of a presidential candidate are of relatively minor significance for Finnish voters.
      The poll, examining the basis on which Finns are choosing a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, shows that they do not expect the head of state to be a reformist or a charismatic leader, or to have a blameless way of life. Finns primarily want their president to be dependable, as well as just and fair.
      Only one-third of the Finnish people feel that the President of the Republic should be distinguished and elegant. This compares rather unfavourably with the 78% who listed "Reliable" or "Dependable", or the 75% for "Fair-minded".
     
Apparently, the gender of the president is not important for men or women alike in this election. However, this can be interpreted in the way that the gender is a self-evident fact, and there is no need to stress the issue.
     
The political views of a candidate are not regarded as the most important criterion, either, not even by the supporters of the three largest parties. Party affliliation ranks close to the bottom of the list of attributes sought.
      While a candidate's blameless way of life is more important for the supporters of the Centre Party on average, only slightly more than 25% of them regard it as very important.
      The order of importance of the most significant characteristics is more or less the same for all supporters of the various presidential candidates.
     
However, supporters of Tarja Halonen, the incumbent and the Social Democratic candidate, tend to put a slightly higher-than-average priority on a humane approach and compassion toward people's everyday life, as well as on tolerance and broad-mindedness.
      The high number of President Halonen's supporters can be partly explained by the perceived fact that political views and party affiliation appear to be of lesser significance to voters. The support she has held throughout her first term is vastly greater than that of the party whose candidate she was six years ago and will be in the forthcoming election.
     
Supporters of the National Coalition Party's Sauli Niinistö tend to stress the qualities of elegance, charisma, and the candidate's political views more than average.
      On the other hand, supporters of Niinistö put less priority on the "humane factor" and compassion toward people's everyday life than do supporters of Halonen and the Centre Party's Matti Vanhanen, Finland's current Prime Minister.
     
Supporters of Matti Vanhanen regard Christian conviction, political views, patriotism, the quality of being presentable, and strong leadership as the most important factors in choosing a candidate. The less important qualities noted among Vanhanen's supporters are tolerance and broad-mindedness.
     
The panel survey was carried out by Suomen Gallup on a computerized respondent network that had been selected to represent the population aged 18 to 74 in Finland, excluding the Åland Islands.
      A total of 1,233 interviews were carried out between October 14th and 19th. The interviewees were asked to evaluate 21 various qualities which can be important when choosing a presidential candidate.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finns want president to show strong leadership and defend everyday security (7.11.2005)
  News magazine commissions assessment of management skills of main Presidential candidates (3.11.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat