President Sauli Niinistö greeted voters while on the campaign trail in Oulu on Saturday, 2 December, 2017.
President Sauli Niinistö remains a strong favourite with less than two months to go before the presidential elections, even though his popularity has taken a dip according to an opinion poll commissioned by Alma Media.
The poll found that 70 per cent of the respondents who were able and willing to disclose their current favourite in the elections would cast their vote for Niinistö.
Alma Media’s poll also confirms that the only viable challenger to the incumbent is Pekka Haavisto, the candidate of the Green League. Haavisto was the choice of 12 per cent of respondents, while the remaining six candidates each received the nod from only one to three per cent of respondents.
Matti Vanhanen, the candidate of the Centre Party, is projected to win three per cent of the vote, while his former party comrade, Paavo Väyrynen, who entered the race earlier this week after collecting the 20,000 support cards required to run as an independent candidate, is projected to win two per cent of the vote. The poll, however, was conducted before the candidacy of Väyrynen was cofirmed.
Niinistö, who won his first term in office as the candidate of the National Coalition, is popular across party lines.
Almost two-thirds (65%) of respondents who identified themselves as supporters of the Social Democratic Party said they would vote for Niinistö, despite the fact that the opposition party has also nominated its own candidate for the elections, Tuula Haatainen.
Tietoykkönen collected a total of 1,500 responses for the opinion poll – 555 with telephone interviews and 945 with an online survey – between 23 November and 3 December.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT Photo: Timo Heikkala – Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi
