ANPMemployees of the Food Bank in Rotterdam
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 06:00
There is a widely shared desire in the Netherlands to distribute prosperity in the country more fairly. This is evident from a representative survey by Ipsos on behalf of the NOS.
Nearly two-thirds of Dutch people (64 percent) believe it is important that prosperity differences become smaller. Voters from all parties agree. For left-wing parties that percentage is around 80, but 43 percent are also in favor among VVD voters.
According to the Dutch, a fair distribution of wealth should mainly be paid for by making companies pay more taxes. 60 percent believe that taxes on companies should increase. Almost as many people (56 percent) believe that more taxes should be levied on higher incomes. Increasing the wealth tax also receives strong support (49 percent).
NOS
The Dutch are still pessimistic about the future of our country. Seven in ten Dutch people (72 percent) think that the Netherlands is going in a bad direction. But the number of pessimists is becoming smaller, because last year 77 percent thought that things were going in the wrong direction. The financial compensation measures seem to have helped, because compared to 2022, Dutch people can more often make ends meet (51 vs. 44 percent). 10 percent can’t do that.
The number of Dutch people who have been cutting back for a number of years is still increasing and is now 57 percent, while a few years ago this was well less than half. Three in ten people fear that their financial situation will worsen next year.
Trust in politics
Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of Dutch people over the age of 18 believe that politicians are more concerned with themselves than with solving the country’s problems. This feeling is stronger among older people (55+) than among young people (18-34 years).
Partly because of this, only a third of Dutch people still have confidence in politics. Only VVD and D66 voters have a majority of confidence in politics.
NOS
Of all voters, 47 percent indicate that the lack of trust is partly because politics does not solve the problems in the country. When asked about the main policy areas that contribute to low trust, more than half mention government policies in the areas of immigration and asylum, health care and the housing market.
The logical next question is how trust in national politics can increase again. The next government must show decisiveness and make more decisions, even if that leads to anger among some groups, it is said. Furthermore, many respondents believe that political leaders should collaborate more. Another frequently heard solution is fewer political parties in the House of Representatives, for example by introducing an electoral threshold.
Appreciation of politicians
Ipsos also surveyed what people thought about individual politicians. Pieter Omtzigt (New Social Contract) is the most highly rated politician with a score of 7.0, followed by Caroline van der Plas of BBB (6.1) and VVD party leader Dilan Yesilgöz (5.9). Omtzigt scores highest on all presented qualities: he is the most inspiring, knows what is going on, is reliable and decisive. Omtzigt also received the best reviews in 2021 and 2022. Thierry Baudet (Forum for Democracy) gets the lowest rating with a 2.6.
NOS
Omtzigt’s New Social Contract party is mentioned most often as a party that absolutely must participate in a new cabinet: 36 percent of Dutch people want that, BBB is mentioned by 32 percent, VVD and GroenLinks/PvdA both by 24 percent; 19 percent mention the PVV.
It is striking that 23 percent also want the VVD to be absolute not participate in the next cabinet. D66 is also no longer welcome in a new cabinet for almost one in five Dutch people. Forum for Democracy is by far the least desirable: 47 percent absolutely do not want to see that party in the next cabinet.
The Ipsos survey
The data was obtained through an online survey among a representative sample of 2049 Dutch voters. The data was collected from Thursday, September 7 to Monday, September 11, 2023.
2023-09-19 04:00:01
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