Authors

• TNS Gallup

Keywords

European Parliament elections, elections, local government elections, parliamentary elections, party identification, political attitudes, political behaviour, political parties, political support, voting

Abstract

The survey studied Finnish political attitudes, and opinions on political parties. Respondents were asked how favourable their opinion was regarding the Finnish Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party of Finland, the National Coalition Party, the Left Alliance and the Green League and how tempted respondents would be to vote for these parties. A number of attributes (e.g. incompetent leaders, competence in EU issues) were listed and respondents were asked to which party they could be applied. They also assessed government performance and goals which receive too much or too little attention in politics.

Voting behaviour was studied by asking how tempted respondents would be to vote for different parties if the Parliamentary elections were held at the time of the survey and which party did they vote for in the 2003 Parliamentary elections. Respondents were asked whether they support any party at that moment. Their intention to vote in the next European Parliamentary and local government elections was also studied. Qualities (e.g. ambitiousness, helpfulness, insouciance, and self-discipline) which guide respondents' lives were examined. Background variables included respondent's year of birth, gender, marital status, household composition, household's annual gross income, type of accommodation, housing tenure, basic and vocational education, occupational group, industry of employment, employer type, trade union membership, political orientation on the left-right axis, self-perceived social class, and province, county and municipality of residence.