Poll: SDP edge slightly ahead of Centre as largest political group
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The Social Democratic Party has edged slightly ahead of its government partner, the Centre Party, in popular support.
According to a poll commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup, 25.5% of Finns would vote for the Social Democrats if Parliamentary elections were held now. The corresponding figure for the Centre Party is 23.4%.
In the previous poll from last June, support for the main government parties was close to a dead heat, with the Social Democrats getting 25.1% support against 24.9% for the Centre.
The opposition National Coalition Party has risen in the past five months from 18.8% to 20.7%.
The Left Alliance has held on to the 9.5% support it had in the summer.
Most other parties have also seen their public support change little in recent months: the Green League is supported by 8.6% of the public, the Swedish People’s Party gets 4.9%, the Christian Democrats have 3.7%, and the True Finns have just 1.2% support.
The poll was conducted between the first and 25th of November. The 2,380 people who were interviewed for the survey were asked which party or political group they would vote for if Parliamentary elections were held now. They were also asked which party or group they voted for in the municipal elections in October.
The respondents were also asked about the certainty of their choices.
Less than half - 46% - of the present voters of the different parties said that they were completely sure of their own opinions. The certainty level was about the same as it was in June last year.
The most steadfast in their party affiliation were supporters of the Left Alliance, 53% of whom were absolutely sure of their view.
The greatest proportion of unsure voters was among supporters of the Green League, only 33% of whom were very sure of their stand.
Certainty of party choice tends to correlate with age. Among younger age groups there are relatively few who are absolutely sure of their views. Among those aged 18 to 25, 29% were very sure of their choice of parties, against 58% among those over the age of 50.
Helsingin Sanomat
