Public Opinion Dynamics in the Netherlands

This chapter focuses on the development of public opinion in the Netherlands, and more specifically the opinions of citizens on political issues and the degree to which citizens’ opinions are structured by a limited number of ideological dimensions. The chapter first provides an outline of the main debates among political scientists about the dimensional structure of public opinion in the Netherlands. It also discusses changes over time and the rise of new issues such as immigration and European unification. In a second section, the chapter provides descriptive analyses of the development of public opinion in the Netherlands and the correlations between issue attitudes and left–right placement among citizens. It shows how left–right ideology continues to structure opinions on the most salient political issues, not just socio-economic but also sociocultural issues and, very recently, global warming. In the final paragraph, we outline avenues for future research.