As Prime Minister Antti Rinne's centre-left government approaches its first half year in office, just one third of Finns surveyed say that it has succeeded quite well so far.
That is according to a Kantar TNS party tracking poll published on Thursday. Just over half of respondents disagreed, saying that the government has performed poorly or quite poorly so far.
Meanwhile the opposition scored even lower, with just one in four saying that it has performed well or quite well. On the other hand the opposition had slightly fewer detractors than the government, with 48 percent evaluating its performance as poor or quite poor.
Kantar TNS interviewed more than 1,300 Finns aged 15-74 in the first half of November. It estimates the margin of error at 2.7 percentage points.
In a similar poll conducted last February, a slightly higher share of respondents, 35 percent, were satisfied with the government – at that point the previous cabinet led by Centre Party chair Juha Sipilä.
Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Rinne took over in early June after narrowly winning April's parliamentary election.
Left Alliance backers most content
Most content with the Rinne government were supporters of the Left Alliance, with 72 percent expressing satisfaction. The corresponding figure among backers of Rinne's own SDP was just 69 percent.
Centre Party supporters were split with about 40 percent happy with the government so far and as many displeased. Among Greens supporters, 42 percent say they were satisfied while 33 percent were not.
The strongest criticism of the cabinet came from backers of the largest opposition bloc, the Finns Party, with 81 percent giving it a thumbs-down. Amid backers of the other main opposition party, the conservative National Coalition, 65 percent gave it poor marks.
Raising the employment level was considered the government's most important task, nearly one third of respondents said it should be the top priority.