Confidence in national politics has dropped to just 4% after a week of turmoil in The Hague, according to a new RTL Nieuws readers poll.

Trust in politics had already slumped to 19% earlier this year, and even after the fall of the Schoof cabinet in June it was higher than it is now.

“This is of course a snapshot, but it shows how frustrated many people are with what has happened this week,” RTL researcher Gijs Rademaker said. “Many feel the country faces big challenges, yet the parties are only busy with themselves. ‘A mess’ and ‘a shambles’ were among the more polite words I saw. Voters are simply exhausted by The Hague.”

The latest crisis followed the departure of all ministers from Nieuw Sociaal Contract (NSC) from the caretaker cabinet last Friday. They backed foreign minister Veldkamp, who resigned after failing to agree with VVD and BBB on tougher measures against Israel.

Half of those surveyed said NSC should have stayed on to keep the country more governable. “I understand they are angry about Israel, but they are still responsible for governing. There are many other urgent issues now left unresolved,” one participant said.

Three in ten agreed with Veldkamp’s decision to stand firm, a view mainly held by supporters of GroenLinks-PvdA and pro-animal PvdD. “The country wasn’t being governed properly anyway, so better to stick to your principles,” one panel member said.

The poll also highlights growing alienation from politics in general. After June’s cabinet collapse, nearly a quarter of voters said they had lost confidence in all political parties. That sense of disillusionment is strongest among former NSC voters (32%), but also present among supporters of the pro-farmers BBB (28%) and far right PVV (26%).

Many of these voters had hoped for renewal in The Hague but now say they do not know who to support. One NSC voter told RTL: “It’s one big puppet show. They have completely forgotten what it should be about: the people and the problems facing the world.”

On Wednesday, MPs debated how to proceed, given just two parties remain in government.

Most respondents (31%) favoured forming a national cabinet with experienced figures from outside day-to-day politics, while 30% said VVD and BBB should simply replace the NSC ministers.