Support for Mark Rutte’s cabinet policies has slumped in six years

Photo: Regering.nl
Photo: Regering.nl

Support for some of the government’s main policies has shrunk in the six years that Mark Rutte has been prime minister.

At the start of Rutte’s first period in office in 2010, 37% of voters wanted to keep the retirement age at 65. Now the pension age is rising to 67, support for the 65 age limit has soared to 60%.

The introduction of market forces into the public sector is also much less popular than in 2010, according to a report by I&O Research cited in the weekend’s Volkskrant.

At the time of the first Rutte government – a minority coalition with the Christian Democrats which was backed by Geert Wilders’s PVV – 34% said more competition between hospitals was needed to improve standards of care. Support for the market in healthcare has now gone down to 24%.

In 2010, 57% backed cuts in spending on development aid. Now 43% would support such a move. Backing for cuts to arts spending has fallen from 56% to 34% while support for longer jail terms has shrunk from 78% to 59%.

Backing for Dutch participation in peacekeeping missions has also gone up considerably, the Volkskrant said.

Immigration

Support for tougher immigration rules has also diminished. In 2010, 50% of voters said low-skilled immigrants should be stopped from entering the Netherlands, but today just over one in three support such a position.

On Tuesday the cabinet – a coalition between Rutte’s right-wing Liberal VVD and the Labour party – will present its last budget before the March 2017 general election.

Support for the coalition has plummeted over its four years in office. In recent opinion polls, the VVD would win around 30 seats in the 150 seat parliament, a drop of around 25%. The Labour party, which took 38 seats in the 2012 election, is now on target to win between 10 and 14.

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