Helsingin Sanomat Gallup: Centre Party and SDP evenly matched in run-up to municipal elections

At least one in two voters is certain of party affiliation

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The latest polling of support for the political parties carried out by Suomen Gallup on behalf of Helsingin Sanomat shows that the Centre Party and the Social Democrats, the two senior members of the ruling coalition, are running neck-and-neck in the final stages of the municipal election campaign. The Centre Party holds 24.0% support, with the SDP on 23.9%.
      The 2,000 interviews in the study were carried out late last week. Relative to the previous figures from September, both parties have seen a slight decline in overall support, with the Centrists’ previous margin of 0.5%-points shaved to just 0.1%-point.
      The moderate conservative National Coalition Party, the leading opposition grouping, can call upon the support of 19.9% of the respondents, with the Left Alliance and the Greens at 10.2% and 8.4% respectively.
      The minority member of the three-party coalition government, the Swedish People’s Party, remained steady at 4.8%.
     
At least one in two of all prospective voters declared they were certain of their choice. The strongest figures in this department were found among supporters of the Centre Party and the Left Alliance, with the Greens in their customary position at the other end of the table.
      They will nevertheless have been heartened by the knowledge that the share of Green supporters expressing confidence in their decision to vote a Green ticket has risen from 24% to 40%.
      Certainty over the choice of party appears to be determined in part by age. Among the youngest age-group, voters between 18 and 25 years, only 32% expressed that they were very certain about whom they would vote for by party. This compares with 65% for those in the over-64 years grouping.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Certainty over voting in upcoming municipal elections is declining (30.9.2004)
  Poll: Centre Party still slightly ahead of SDP (27.9.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat