Support for the anti-Islam PVV has plunged in two separate opinion polls published on Tuesday, after taking a dip in the Maurice de Hond poll at the weekend.

In a poll for current affairs show EenVandaag, support for Geert Wilders has fallen by five seats to 26 – giving him 17.3% of the vote. The poll also gives the ruling VVD 23 seats (-1) in the 150 seat parliament. The main gainers are the pro-animal PvdD, whose support in this poll has doubled to six.

Voters gave a variety of reasons for changing their voting intentions, EenVandaag said. Some said they are concerned about Wilders’ praise for US president Donald Trump while others say Wilders is short on practical solutions.

In a second poll, for Kandar Public, formally known as TNS Nipo, support for the PVV has gone down from 34 to 27 seats, or from 22.7% to 18%. Backing for the VVD is up slightly at 24 seats. D66 and the CDA are level pegging on 18, with GroenLinks fifth on 16.

Meanwhile, broadcaster RTL may have cancelled its ‘prime minister debate’ after Mark Rutte and Geert Wilders pulled out, but it has now decided to press ahead with a session between the next five parties in the polls.

The Christian Democrats, Labour, GroenLinks, D66 and the Socialists will lock horns on February 26. ‘Political parties want access to prime television to brief viewers on their most important standpoints,’ RTL Nieuws editor in chief Harm Taselaar said.

Rutte and Wilders pulled out at the weekend, saying that RTL had broken its promise by inviting five not four parties to take part.