A new Yle poll shows that support for Finland becoming a member of NATO has grown in recent months, with the conflict in eastern Ukraine a significant driver in the increase in support.
The survey, carried out in July and August, found that 26 percent of respondents are now in favour of joining the military alliance, an increase of two percentage points on March’s result, and nine percent higher than when the same poll was conducted in November last year.
Pro-European demonstrations began in Kiev last November, which eventually led to the toppling of the Ukrainian government, and then in February to the incursion of Russian troops into the Crimean peninsula.
58 percent of those polled said they continue to oppose NATO membership, which is the same amount as the March poll, but five percentage points fewer than last November
In total 12 percent of all respondents said events in Ukraine had made them more sure than before that Finland should join NATO. Seven percent said they had gone from opposing to supporting membership as a result of the crisis.
Meanwhile around one in ten of those polled said the situation in Ukraine had strengthened their opposition to becoming a NATO member.
However 63 percent said their views on joining NATO had not been affected.
Russia threat
Over half of all respondents – 56 percent – said they perceive Russia as a threat to Finland, a considerably higher result than in a poll conducted by Ilta-Sanomat in March, where the proportion was 39 percent.
Interestingly, those living closer to the border, in eastern Finland, perceived less of a threat from Russia than respondents living in the west of the country.
Supporters of the conservative National Coalition Party were the most stringent supporters of NATO membership, making up 44 percent of all those in favour of joining.
A further third of NATO supporters described themselves as Finns Party voters.
Meanwhile Left Alliance supporters and Social Democrat voters were the largest groups opposed to becoming a NATO member.
A thousand people were surveyed in the poll carried out by Taloustutkimus. The margin of error is around 2.5 percentage points each way.
