The housing crisis and public safety are set to be the dominant issues in next week’s local elections – with a strong generation gap evident in voters’ priorities.
Younger voters are more likely to be concerned about the difficulty of finding a house to rent or buy, with half of them telling RTL’s Nieuwspaneel that it is their main reason for voting.
By contrast, just under half of older voter (47%) cited safety issues such as public disorder, the need for more community police officers and criminals using distraction techniques or online fraud to steal from vulnerable elderly people.
The panel survey of 22,000 people also highlighted regional differences, with housing dominating the campaign in northern and central regions while safety was seen as more important in the south, except for the area of Noord-Brabant around Eindhoven and Tilburg.
In border areas, such as eastern Groningen and Limburg, the quality of life in the local neighbourhood came out top of people’s concerns.
What you need to know about the local elections on March 18
A quick guide to the biggest political parties
More than half of voters (53%) said they were mostly concerned with local issues, while one-third were taking both local and national politics into account.
Just 9% were mainly motivated by national issues, especially supporters of the far-right parties PVV and Forum voor Democratie, who want to stop asylum seekers being accommodated in their area.
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