Swiss poll finds voters turning against both initiatives

A second survey commissioned by SRG and conducted by GFS Bern shows growing opposition to both initiatives due to go before Swiss voters on September 27, SRF reports. Views on the neutrality initiative are already largely settled, while opinion on the food initiative remains less firmly formed.

The neutrality initiative calls for a stricter neutrality policy and would add to the constitution that Switzerland’s neutrality must be permanent and armed. The food initiative seeks to increase domestic food production and reduce the country’s dependence on imports.

For the neutrality initiative, voting intentions and respondents’ stated arguments are closely aligned. For the food initiative, support for its underlying arguments is significantly higher than support for the proposal itself.

Political divide over neutrality initiative

Compared with the first SRG survey, opposition to the neutrality initiative rose by nine percentage points. The results show a clear political divide: only 30 percent of Swiss People’s Party supporters said they would reject the initiative, while opposition ranged from 88 to 92 percent among supporters of the Greens, Social Democratic Party and Green Liberal Party.

Lukas Golder, a political scientist at GFS Bern, said the Swiss People’s Party was isolated on the issue.

Opposition also increased in both major language regions. In German-speaking Switzerland, it rose to 64 percent, up seven percentage points, while in French-speaking Switzerland it reached 63 percent, an increase of 14 points. Golder said the divide was less pronounced in French-speaking Switzerland, where the international role of Geneva also influenced views.

Food initiative loses ground

The first SRG survey found an even split over the food initiative, but the proposal has since moved into opposing territory. Political affiliation also plays a role: only among Green Party supporters does clear majority support remain.

Opposition has increased across all political groups. GFS Bern said this may partly be because the food initiative has been overshadowed by the neutrality initiative.

The youngest eligible voters are comparatively the most supportive, with 39 percent backing the initiative. Although arguments against the proposal are gaining weight, its underlying aims remain capable of winning majority support.

The argument that continues to receive the strongest support is that climate change and pollution are threatening water supplies, making national planning necessary to protect clean drinking water and groundwater, GFS Bern said.

Survey details

GFS Bern conducted the survey for SRG between September 2 and 9, with September 5 as the average interview date. The analysis included responses from 12,916 eligible voters: 10,893 from German-speaking Switzerland, 1,657 from French-speaking Switzerland and 366 from Italian-speaking Switzerland.

The statistical margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. The survey included telephone interviews with 509 eligible voters living in Switzerland, as well as adjusted online responses from 11,904 people and 503 participants recruited through social media. The online and social media participants were self-selected, so the sample was not representative of the eligible voting population. The data were weighted to approximate the actual composition of Swiss voters.