The majority of respondents—64 percent—were sure they would cast a vote. Their numbers have risen since the last municipal elections in 2008, when 59 percent said the same.

One in four Finns felt that their vote would make no impact on the results, but older voters were more likely to believe in the power of their ballot, according to the poll.

Two out of five, or 40 percent, said their main reason for voting was to protest the current situation. This attitude was prevalent among the middle-aged, the poorly educated and the supporters of the populist Finns Party.

A third of those surveyed found that it was difficult to select a candidate to vote for. This problem was most common among young people, students, lower-level employees and labourers.

Half of the respondents said they were voting for a party rather than for an individual candidate. This was especially true of those who supported the main government parties, the conservative National Coalition and the Social Democrats.

Nearly 1,000 Finns gave their answers to the TNS Gallup survey at the beginning of September. The margin of error was three percentage points. The four biggest parties—the National Coalition, the Finns Party, the SDP and the Centre Party—took part in conducting the survey.

The municipal elections will be held on October 28. Advance voting in Finland takes place on October 17-23, while advance ballots can be cast abroad on October 17-20. Details about the elections can be found in English here.