There was good news if you are against us-and-them rhetoric, Islamophobia, and support for US President Donald Trump’s policies and persona. A poll published Thursday by Yle showed that the southward direction of the Perussuomalaiaset (PS)* party continued to head south.
Compared with a similar poll on December 9, 2019-January 8, 2020, support for the PS dove by 6.4 percentage points from 24.3%, followed by the National Coalition Party (19.3%) and Social Democrats (14.9%).
One of the reasons why support for the Social Democrats has soared is Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Her government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has met with approval from the public.
Contrarily, the PS has not offered anything better except for its usual bickering and scapegoating of migrants, especially Muslims.
Some have referred to the PS as an elevator party since it rises and drops in the polls.
Even if it has done well in 2011, 2015, and 2019 parliamentary elections, much of its success rides on scapegoating Muslims.
In 2015, a sexual assault case in Tapanila a month before the election gave the PS a needed boost as did in 2019, when it took full advantage of the sexual assault cases in Oulu.
What is interesting to note is that when a sexual assault case erupts as in the parliamentary elections, the media, police, and politicians help the PS to spread their message of hate.
