The vast majority of Dutch people think that the Netherlands is going in the wrong direction. About 86 percent of the respondents were negative about this a Rabobank survey among more than ten thousand people. Sentiment is more negative in the countryside than in the city.
In the survey, 39 percent of those surveyed said things are going “clearly in the wrong direction,” and just under half said things are moving “slightly more in the wrong direction than in the right direction.” Only 1 percent of people indicated that things are “clearly moving in the right direction”.
Especially in Drenthe, Zeeland and in parts of Friesland, Flevoland and Limburg, people were negative about the direction the country is heading. Respondents in Amsterdam and Tilburg were somewhat more positive. Socioeconomic background is more important for sentiment than where someone lives. People with a health disability, no permanent job, or a lower level of education are generally more negative about the future of the country. These groups often also experience lower ‘broad prosperity’, another factor that plays a role in the negative assessment of the direction the Netherlands is taking.