Authors

• MTV3
• Ministry of Justice

Keywords

decision making, democracy, election campaigns, political influence, political parties, politics, trust, voting

Abstract

The survey charted Finnish young people's opinions on the state of Finnish democracy. It was conducted as part of the democracy policy document prepared by the Ministry of Justice and the respondents were members of the online community IRC-Galleria.

First, the respondents were presented with a set of attitudinal statements relating to democracy and well it functions in their municipality of residence, Finland or the EU. Interest in politics and the importance of voting were also surveyed. The respondents evaluated how well a number of influential bodies, such as the President, the Prime Minister, Parliament, the Government, the opposition parties, had succeeded in performing their tasks. Trust in the President, Parliament, the Government, the EU, the media, trade unions and political parties was also charted. Finally, views were probed on the election campaign funding (election financing) debate.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, education, economic activity and occupational status, place of study, voting intention in the next elections (parish elections and parliamentary elections) and political party preference.