New polls have revealed that two weeks before the June 14th referendum, Swiss voters look set to narrowly reject the controversial ‘No to 10 million’ initiative.
Though previous surveys indicated the ‘yes’ vote would be a more likely result, the two latest ones show the ‘no’ camp is now prevailing.
According to the survey carried out by gfs institute on behalf of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and published on June 2nd, 52 percent of voters will ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ reject the proposal, while 45 percent would ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ approve it.
However, 4 percent of survey respondents remain undecided, which means the numbers could shift either way.
What else did the poll reveal?
Not surprisingly, voters are divided along party lines – that is, those leaning toward the left or centre are predominantly against the bid to cap immigration, while the support for the measure is strongest on the right.
Concretely, 91 percent of Social Democrats, 85 percent of Greens, 79 percent of Green-Liberals, and 57 percent of Centre party members are opposed to the measure,
On the other hand, the strongest support – 90 percent – comes from the far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which spearheaded the initiative in the first place.
The second poll
Very similar results emerge from a concurrent poll, published by Tamedia media group on June 3rd.
It shows that the same number of respondents – 52 percent – will vote ‘no’, and 47 percent said they will support the initiative.
Here too, the strongest backing (94 percent) comes from the SVP, and the weakest from the Socialists, the Greens, and Green Liberals – 86, 79, and 77 percent, respectively, are against the initiative.
As in prior polls, the ‘pro’ and ‘con’ camps are divided along the regional, age, and income/education lines.
French speakers are more opposed to the proposal than other linguistic groups; rural dwellers are more in favour than city residents; younger generations are more against it; as are high income, educated individuals.
READ MORE: Who are the Swiss voters who will vote ‘yes’ to capping immigration?
What is the SVP saying about these latest poll results?
SVP party chief Marcel Dettling is not concerned about the shift in voter sentiment, saying that “nothing is decided yet.”
But for Mattea Meyer, co-president of the Social Democratic Party, the results mean that “more and more voters are realising what the extreme SVP initiative is really about: a break with Europe and the exploitation and exclusion of people without Swiss passports.”
“That makes me confident that a ‘no’ vote is possible on June 14th,” she added.
