Confidence in Dutch cabinet among voters drops to new low of 16 percent
By Simone Jacobs
A survey has revealed that only 16 percent of voters still have confidence in the Dutch cabinet. The poor collaboration and constant bickering between coalition parties have caused confidence to plummet since the new Dutch government was sworn in last summer.
Coalition government in the Netherlands loses confidence
In July 2024, when the new Dutch cabinet took office, made up of the Party for Freedom (PVV), People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), New Social Contract (NSC) and Farmer Citizen Movement (BBB), voter confidence sat at 37 percent, which according to RTL Nieuws is a normal figure for a new cabinet. This has more than halved over time, based on the most recent survey conducted by RTL Nieuws in March among 23.000 readers.
"I see that voters mainly think that the parties bicker and argue too much among themselves," said RTL pollster Gijs Rademaker. "They lack unity. Many also think that too few results have been achieved in recent months, and that there is too little knowledge and experience in the coalition." VVD voters in particular have reservations about the current coalition parties.
While the majority of VVD voters were in favour of a coalition with Wilder’s right-wing PVV last year, they now prefer the left-wing GroenLinks-PvdA. In fact, 50 percent would prefer a future coalition between VVD and GroenLinks-PvdA, while just 21 percent want a VVD and PVV coalition. "PVV, BBB and NSC are not mature enough to govern together. So back to more stable partners," said one VVD voter.
Confidence in coalition leaders on the decline
Leaders of the coalition parties in the Schoof Cabinet have seen a rapid decline in confidence among their voters since taking office. PVV leader Geert Wilders, who has had close to 100 percent confidence among his voters for years, has recently seen a steady drop in confidence to 70 percent.
In the survey, PVV voters indicated that he has not been following through with many of his promises, believing he is the reason for several conflicts with the cabinet. Other reasons for the drift include his friendly attitude towards US President Donald Trump and the negative view of the PVV on investments for defence and the support of Ukraine.
Other party leaders have seen similar drops, with BBB leader Caroline van der Plas seeing confidence in her decline from 85 percent to 66 percent and NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt having confidence in him more than halve to just 23 percent. The only coalition leader who has not lost voter support is VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz with 78 percent confidence.
Opposition parties in the Netherlands are experiencing higher confidence among voters. GroenLinks-PvdA’s Frans Timmermans (72 percent), D66’s Rob Jetten (86 percent) and CDA’s Henri Bontenbal (93 percent) are gathering more support.
Thumb image credit: Jeroen Meuwsen Photography / Shutterstock.com
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Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training. Read more