In the Randstad provinces, housing is mentioned most often, in many outlying provinces it is precisely nitrogen. ‘Immigration’ and ‘poverty’ are in third and fourth place.
RTL News asked nearly three thousand people to write down what they think is the most important election theme in their own province. In the Randstad provinces of North and South Holland and Utrecht, themes such as ‘housing’ and ‘housing’ are mentioned two to four times as often as any other theme.
Nitrogen
In outlying provinces such as Noord-Brabant, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel and Gelderland, the same is happening with themes such as ‘nitrogen’ and ‘farmers’. In Flevoland, a province that has both a (peripheral) urban part and a lot of rural areas, both themes are mentioned equally often.
In two provinces, completely different themes play a role: in Groningen, the handling of earthquake damage after gas drilling is the most determining theme. And in Limburg, in addition to ‘nitrogen’, two other subjects are often mentioned: ‘poverty and high prices’ and ‘immigration’.
‘Poverty’ does not make the top three, but is often mentioned by people both in the Randstad provinces and beyond. The survey shows that people’s concerns about their own financial situation have not diminished in recent months. Half (48 percent) are concerned, among younger participants this is even 59 percent.
Also local themes
The survey shows that a third (32 percent) of voters mainly go to the polls for national issues, compared to 16 percent locally. But don’t rule out provincial themes, because almost half (45 percent) indicate that both play a role in their voting behavior for the Provincial Council.
These local themes are also regularly mentioned in our research: for example, ‘Tata Steel’ plays a role for voters in North Holland, as does the nuisance caused by Schiphol Airport. In Flevoland ‘Airport Lelystad’ and ‘de Lelylijn’ are mentioned and in Zeeland the elections for the inhabitants are also about a (toll-free) Western Scheldt tunnel and the harmful substance PFAS in the Scheldt water.
The survey was conducted between 7 and 9 February by DVJ Insights on behalf of RTL News and conducted among a representative sample of 2780 respondents. At least 150 inhabitants of each province are included in the survey.
