61 percent would vote against "No Billag" today
While the referendum campaign on the No Billag initiative is heating up tempers throughout Switzerland, the opponents of the proposal are still clearly in the lead. This is the result of a new Tameida survey. On the other hand, there is a "yes" trend for the new financial regulations.
According to the second Tamedia survey, 61 percent of respondents would currently vote clearly or rather no to the No Billag initiative, which will be put to the vote on March 4. According to the survey published on Wednesday, 59 percent would vote clearly against the initiative, while two percent would vote rather against it. This means that the opponents' camp has gained two percentage points compared to the first Tamedia survey on January 19, while the pro camp has shrunk by two percentage points.
Among the supporters, the number of those who would clearly accept the proposal has remained the same at 36 percent. On the other hand, only two percent would vote yes to the abolition of radio and television license fees, compared with four percent in mid-January.
SVP in favor, retirees against
The initiative continues to receive the greatest support from SVP voters: 68 percent would certainly vote yes. At 14 percent, the proposal receives the least support from SP voters. It is also noticeable that the initiative is received differently by the sexes: according to the survey, men support it more strongly (38 percent yes) than women (31 percent yes).
There are also differences in voter favorability between the generations: The referendum is most strongly rejected in the over-65 age group (65 percent no), followed by the under-35 age group (60 percent no). In addition, there are more sympathizers in German-speaking Switzerland (37 percent in favor) than in French-speaking Switzerland (31 percent in favor), where the referendum is also most strongly rejected (62 percent against).
Constraint versus diversity
The argument that the Billag compulsory fee is patronizing to citizens carries the most weight in the supporters' camp. In second place comes the conviction that SRG is a colossus that produces a mediocre quality offering despite all the money.
The counter-arguments are dominated by the statement that without the Billag fee, media diversity would suffer and the dependence of the media on private sponsors would increase. This is followed by the argument that diverse reporting in all language regions is important for opinion-forming in direct democracy.
Financial Regulations
The new Financial Regulation 2021, which will also be put to the vote on March 4, still appears to be safe. According to the survey, only 20 percent clearly or rather reject the proposal. 59 percent would say yes or rather yes.
The lowest level of support for the financial order is among SVP supporters, the highest among voters from the GLP and CVP. The main argument of the supporters is that in the event of a No vote, two-thirds of the federal government's revenue will be lost, even though the money is needed to finance federal tasks. Against the new financial order comes the argument in the first place that federal spending grows year after year and that a radical correction is necessary.
On February 1, 2018, 17,067 people from all over Switzerland took part in the Tamedia survey online. Of these, 11,882 were from German-speaking Switzerland, 4,232 from French-speaking Switzerland and 953 from Ticino. The adjusted data were weighted for analysis by demographic, geographic and political variables. The maximum error range is given as plus/minus 1.1 percentage points. (SDA)
