The National Coalition Party (NCP), led by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, has topped Yle's latest opinion poll, pushing the Social Democratic Party (SDP) out of the first-place spot it held throughout the spring.
Though the NCP's support has declined since the previous poll, 21.2 percent of respondents still backed the party. The last time the centre-right party was at the top of the poll was in early March.
The SDP garnered 20.1 percent of support among the poll's respondents.
The Finns Party came in at third place, garnering 15.3 percent of support, marking an uptick for the party after a few months of decline and a poor showing in June's EU election.
Finns Party and Left gain more female supporters
The voter base for the NCP remains largely unchanged, though the latest poll data revealed a slight decrease in female supporters, according to Jari Pajunen, CEO of polling firm Taloustutkimus.
Women have also been drifting away from the SDP.
"Support for the Left Alliance has increased, making it the biggest gainer in this poll. Women have largely moved from the SDP to the Left," Pajunen said.
The Left Alliance boosted its profile and support in the European Parliament elections, achieving its best-ever election result following party leader Li Andersson's record-breaking share of votes.
The party became Finland's second-largest party in the European Parliament elections, even surpassing Finnish Parliament's largest opposition party the SDP — as well as the Finns Party, the second-largest government party.
According to Pajunen, the Finns Party also gained more female supporters. The party has seen a decline in support in the past few consecutive polls, but now the party is trending slightly upward again.
"The increase in support for the Finns Party has come mainly from women, specifically from working women aged 35 to 59," Pajunen said.
Support levels stabilise for new party leaders
In June, two new leaders stepped into party leadership roles: Antti Kaikkonen of the Centre Party and Anders Adlercreutz of the Swedish People's Party (SPP).
The new poll also found support for the SPP's support slighly increase by 0.2 percentage points, compared to the previous survey.
Previously, the party's support was on par with, or even below the Christian Democrats in the spring, but it has now grown.
The Centre Party, the second-largest opposition party, saw its support increase from 11.5 to 12.2 percent, gaining just under one percentage point.
In the previous poll, Movement Now had less than one percent support, while non-parliamentary parties collectively garnered 2.7 percent. This time, Movement Now’s support has risen to just under 2 percent.
Taloustutkimus interviewed 2,481 people between 7 June and 2 July to compile the poll, with 1,910 stating their party preferences. The margin of error is ± 1.9 percentage points.
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