SAK voter turnout campaign highly visible

More than half of the general public in Finland feel that the voter turnout campaign of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions - SAK increased the willingness of union members to vote at parliamentary elections held in March. One in ten people consider that the campaign had a clear impact on voter turnout in this population segment. Opinions are similar among the members of SAK-affiliated trade unions, with 56 per cent holding that the campaign had some positive effects on the electoral turnout of such members and ten per cent believing that the impact of the campaign on voting enthusiasm was clear.

These are among the findings of a survey conducted by Gallup Finland, based on interviews with 1,511 members of the Finnish public during the two weeks immediately following the election.

This was the second SAK campaign seeking to encourage the members of affiliated trade unions in particular to cast their votes. The campaign incorporated materials on the objectives of SAK for the new electoral period, election pages on the Internet and advertising in newspapers and on television. The campaign slogan was "Vote or suffer!" and the general advertising approach was strongly humorous.

Young people most appreciative of television advertisement

The SAK voter turnout campaign captured the public imagination quite well. Visibility was particularly high on television, with 65 per cent of the overall population and 69 per cent of members of affiliated trade unions recalling the television advertisement in which SAK urged people to vote.

The television advertisement provided a talking point especially for young people and those of working age. More than two-thirds of respondents under 35 years of age felt that the advertisement had been a success, while half of those aged between 36 and 60 and one quarter of respondents over 60 shared this opinion. The corresponding figure for the Finnish public as a whole was 54 per cent. Two-thirds of the members of affiliated trade unions praised the television advertising campaign.

Supporters of the Finnish Social Democratic Party, Left Wing Alliance and Green Party were particularly appreciative of the advertisement. 44 per cent of Finnish Coalition Party supporters felt that the advertisement had been successful. Similar praise came from only 38 per cent of supporters of the Finnish Centre Party, which won the election by a narrow majority over the social democrats.

SAK union member turnout higher than forecast

A membership survey conducted last spring indicated that only 45 per cent of members of SAK-affiliated trade unions were sure of voting in parliamentary elections. This represented a fall of seven percentage points from the corresponding situation in 1998. While the eventual turnout of SAK voters is still not clear, it would appear that this must have improved to exceed the turnout at the last parliamentary elections despite these initially poor voter intention figures. Some 60 per cent of the members of SAK-affiliated trade unions cast their votes in the 1989 elections.

The SAK voter turnout campaign was realised in association with the Kaisaniemen Dynamo advertising agency and the Also Starring production company.