Wilders Party Slumps in Shock Dutch Poll on Eve of Election
Source: Bloomberg
The prospect that Geert Wilders might emerge as the winner of Wednesdays Dutch election was thrown into doubt by a poll on the eve of voting that showed his Freedom Party slumping to fifth place.
The final poll from I&O Research showed Wilderss party on 16 seats in the 150-member lower house of parliament. That was four seats less than in the previous I&O poll released Monday and compared with a high of 33 seats for the Freedom Party in December. Prime Minister Mark Ruttes Liberals rose three seats from the previous poll to 27 seats in Tuesdays survey. The centrist D66 party, the Greens and the Christian Democrats were all ahead of the anti-Islam, anti-European Union Freedom Party.
While the I&O survey could be an outlier, the bulk of the polling was conducted after a diplomatic dispute erupted over the weekend between the Netherlands and Turkey which Rutte was deemed to have handled well. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Dutch government of Nazi-like behavior after Rutte refused to let Turkish ministers address a pro-government rally in Rotterdam. Rutte sought to de-escalate the spat, while Wilders said he should have taken tougher action against Turkish diplomats.
There is support among voters of all parties for the performance of Mark Rutte in the crisis, I&O said in a commentary to the poll. It found 62 percent of voters backing the way Rutte acted, including 59 percent of Freedom Party backers, with only 10 percent of all voters supporting the way Wilders performed.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-14/wilders-party-slumps-in-shock-dutch-poll-on-eve-of-election
no_hypocrisy
(46,190 posts)It isn't over until the votes are counted.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)I'm never, ever trusting an election poll again...
dalton99a
(81,578 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)rejection of the call to darkness from the reactionary right. They're voting as we wonder.
Of course, Netherlands has always been very socially advanced for its era. Imagine having 12 active parties. At least there just wouldn't be room for the kind of intense, focused hostility that's developed in one of our two for the other.
nycbos
(6,038 posts)brooklynite
(94,728 posts)...I don't think there's been a majority Government in decades. Likely to require 3-4 parties.
OnDoutside
(19,970 posts)of them, it would be easier to marginalise him.
muntrv
(14,505 posts)DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)Vlad loves a destabilized EU and US, and I wouldn't put anything past this thug.
Turbineguy
(37,366 posts)calls you a nazi, it might give pause to think before voting for one.
But after Brexit and Trump, it's best not to take teh stupid for granted.
EL34x4
(2,003 posts)IronLionZion
(45,528 posts)don't take anything for granted. America elected an unelectable irredeemable asshole with 0 qualifications or relevant experience.
And we are more diverse than most countries.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)IMO.
BlueMTexpat
(15,373 posts)crossed! .
brooklynite
(94,728 posts)Wilders' Party won't have a majority, and no other Party will form a coalition with them.
dawn frenzy adams
(429 posts)That's right. The man who has railed against immigrants, his own mother was born in Indonesia. Geert's blond hair is the result of hair-dye. Doing his school days, his dark, curly, hair resulted in ridicule. No doubt, his mix ethnicity has made him target Muslims. Like so many of these bigoted types, they are often running from themselves.
Turbineguy
(37,366 posts)Wilders dies his hair blond to help with that Aryan look.
BlueMTexpat
(15,373 posts)live blog: http://www.politico.eu/article/dutch-election-live-blog-netherlands-mark-rutte-geert-wilders/
And here's a link to a good overview of what this election is about: http://www.politico.eu/article/must-reads-on-dutch-election/