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One-quarter of voters in Finland would cast their ballots for the opposition Social Democrats, according to Yle's latest political support survey.
The SDP saw support rise by more than a full percentage point, even as inter-party allegations about inappropriate workplace behaviour circulated during the first month of the year.
Now, the country's biggest opposition party has a six-point lead over Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's National Coalition Party.
The Centre Party was the survey's third-most popular among prospective voters, seeing an uptick of 0.8 percent in support.
Among all parties, the Finns Party, which fell to fourth place, saw the biggest drop (-1.8%) in support.
Yle commissions the political support survey every month, and polling is carried out by Taloustutkimus.
According to the survey firm's research chief, Tuomo Turja, recent political scandals appear to have had little impact on people's support for the parties.
For example, the Finns Party became embroiled in a furore in December over allegations of racism. Some of its members posted images of themselves stretching their eyelids to the side, purportedly in support of the former Miss Finland, who was seen doing the same in a scandal that resulted in her losing the title.
But that string of incidents did not seem to bother Finns Party supporters at the time, at least according to Yle's support poll last month. However, it saw a significant drop in support in the latest poll.
Each month the survey is carried out over the course of weeks, and support for the SDP began to wane as the inappropriate behaviour allegations rolled out. But according to Turja, support for the party did not collapse.
Working class favour SDP
He said that the opposition SDP is clearly the most popular party among the working class right now.
He said the poor economic situation, record-high unemployment and Finland being subject to the EU's excessive deficit procedure and other factors all contributed to the current situation.
"Support levels for the Finns Party may reflect general dissatisfaction with the economic situation and how the government has managed the economy," Turja explained.
The Finns Party's chair, Finance Minister Riikka Purra, has been a prominent face of the government's cuts to social services and benefits, among other things.
In terms of support for opposition parties, the Left Alliance has enjoyed good momentum for months. Its support has returned to levels it saw in July 2024, after its success in the European Parliamentary elections.
According to Turja, the Left Alliance surpassing a level of 11 percent in support is exceptional.
"Former Green Party voters have moved to the Left Alliance in fairly large numbers. There are no real flows of support from somewhere else," he said.
