Dutch people are mainly concerned about issues that are close to home

Amstelveen, June 21, 2023

Dutch people are currently mainly concerned about issues that are close to home, such as the rising costs of basic living, high energy prices, the increasing influx of asylum seekers, the availability of housing, the hardening and gentrification of society and the affordability of the concern. 1 in 3 Dutch people also indicate that they are concerned about climate change and CO2 emissions and about declining confidence in government and politics. A fifth is concerned about security in Europe and the war in Ukraine, this was often mentioned when spontaneously mentioning issues that they were concerned about.

Most issues - according to respondents - are caused by the government and politicians and must also be solved by them. It is striking that 54% indicates that declining confidence in politics and government is caused by the media and that the media must also solve this issue. These are some results of the Issue Monitor 2023, which was carried out at the beginning of June by DirectResearch and Issuemakers.

Most concerns

Dutch people are most concerned about:

• Rising costs of basic living – 30%
• Increasing violence (against aid workers) – 29%
• Global warming/CO2/consequences of climate change – 27%
• Increasing influx of asylum seekers – 25%
• Hardening/deterioration of society – 16%
• Crime and safety of Dutch society – 14%
• Housing availability – 12%
• Affordability and accessibility of care (including elderly care) – 11%
• Trust in politics and government – 9%
• High/rising energy prices – 7%
• Shortage of personnel (in healthcare and education, among others) – 7%

Cause of problems

• For most of these top issues, respondents indicate that the government is mainly the cause:
  • Affordability and accessibility of care (58%)
  • Housing availability (65%)
  • High/rising energy prices (43%)
  • Crime and safety of Dutch society (39%)
  • Shortage of personnel (including healthcare and education) (46%)
  • Rising costs of primary living (37%)
  • Increasing influx of asylum seekers (46%)

In the view of the majority of respondents, all these issues should also be resolved by the government.

• According to the respondents, citizens and consumers were responsible for the increasing violence (61%) and the hardening and gentrification of society (54%). The increasing violence must be solved by the government, the hardening by the citizens themselves.
• According to respondents, global warming is caused by business (31%); However, according to the respondents, this issue should mainly be resolved by the government.
• According to 54% of the respondents, the media are to blame for the declining confidence in government and politics and, according to the respondents, they must solve this issue themselves.

Theses

A number of statements were also presented in the study. The respondents were extremely unanimous on the majority of the statements:

• People don't listen to each other anymore (80%),
• In the Netherlands we have an enforcement problem (78%)
• Politics must make their own decisions more quickly (74%)
• Refugees must be put to work as quickly as possible (69%)
• Everyone deserves a chance in the Netherlands (63%)

Respondents were slightly less unanimous about the following statements:

• The government must have a say in shutting down certain social media apps (46%)
• Companies that are bad for the environment must leave the Netherlands (44%)
• The Dutch flag is sacred and abuse must be punished (41%)
• Voting should be mandatory (39%)

The respondents mostly disagreed with the statements below

• Politics listens too much to Dutch citizens (77%)
• The distinction between rural and urban does not exist (71%)
• Companies that do not play a social role have no right to exist (51%)

Issue monitor

The Issue Monitor 2023 was carried out this year by DirectResearch at the request of Issuemakers among a representative sample of 1010 respondents. The respondents were presented with a list of 50 common issues and they could indicate which issues they were concerned about, who is causing this issue and who should solve this issue. Mayke van Keep, Managing Partner Issuemakers: “The Issue Monitor gives us a good overview of the issues at play and how Dutch people view them. We can put these insights to good use when advising our clients.”