A month of political wrangling, leadership changes and confidence votes has not led to any big swings in party support, according to Yle's latest monthly voter survey.
"The changes are very small this time," pollster Taloustutkimus’ Research Director Tuomo Turja told Yle.
With more than six months to go until the municipal elections, the most popular party remains Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Social Democratic Party (SDP), followed by the nationalist Finns Party in second and the conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) in third.
The polling period began just a couple of days after the Centre Party’s congress in Oulu, which saw Annika Saarikko replace Katri Kulmuni as party chair.
The leadership change only led to a very small increase in support for the party, up by 0.2 percentage points to 11.5 percent.
"For the second month in a row, there was a small increase in support for the Centre Party, and after Saarikko's election [as party chair], a small spike can be seen, but the level of support has not increased," Turja explained.
SDP strengthens support among elderly and white-collar workers
Support for the SDP rose by almost half a percentage point to 21.8 percent in the latest survey.
The party’s management of the coronavirus crisis has consolidated its lead at the top of the poll, with many elderly supporters backing the party again after a slip in last month’s figures.
"The rise in support for the SDP comes from both the elderly and the working age population. If you look at the professional background, then white-collar workers are quite strongly behind this rise [in support)," Turja said.
NCP support drops after government criticisms
Finland’s second most popular party is Jussi Halla-aho's Finns Party, whose support increased slightly to stand at exactly 19 percent in the latest poll.
The popularity of the National Coalition Party, led by Petteri Orpo, however fell by 0.7 percentage points to 17.7 percent, even though the party was prominent in criticisms of the government’s plans on how to stimulate the economy and raise employment.
"Support for the Finns Party has strengthened, especially among the working population. The reason for the NCP's small drop in support is not evident from the survey’s background material," Turja said.
Greens slip behind Centre Party
The largest change in the latest survey is the 0.8 percentage point loss of support for the Greens, led by Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo.
Support for the Green Party currently stands at 10.9 percent in the poll, meaning the party drops to fifth place in the rankings as the Centre Party nudges ahead.
"The Greens have especially lost support to the SDP," Turja explained.
Meanwhile, support for the Left Alliance remains almost unchanged at 7.9 percent while the rest of the smaller parties enjoyed a slight increase in support, with 4.5 percent of respondents now saying they support the Swedish People’s Party, 3.3 percent opting for the Christian Democrats and 1.8 percent for Movement Now.
The combined support of the five governing parties in the Yle survey is 56.6 percent.
Pollsters interviewed just over 3,404 voters between 7 September and 6 October for the survey. The margin of error was +/- two percentage points.