However, the government, a majority in parliament, most of the political parties as well as organisations from civil society have recommended rejection. The proposal to do away with the licence fee has the official support of the Swiss People’s Party and the Federation of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises. “There is a higher tendency among younger citizens to approve the initiative, but the poll found no majority in this age group.”

The survey was commissioned by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), swissinfo’s parent company, and carried out by the leading GfS Bern research and polling institute.Ĭompared with the first SBC-commissioned poll, the age gap between the older and younger generations is less pronounced. The telephone interviews, both with fixed line and mobile phone users, took place from February 7-14. Swiss expatriates are not included in the poll for data protection reasons. Pollsters interviewed 1,400 Swiss citizens from all language regions across the country for the second of two nationwide surveys.

He adds that only a minority, notably supporters of a libertarian policy hoping to limit the role of the state, have a fundamental problem with the public licence fee. “A clear majority apparently wants public service media,” says Golder. However, most respondents from urban as well as rural regions came out against the initiative. The researchers identified some support for the initiative among the grassroots of the Swiss People’s Party and other rightwing groups, notably in the Italian-speaking part of the country. + Here's a fact check of the arguments in parliament for and against the licence fee No major age gap Others fear that the overall quality of the media would suffer and powerful private publishers would try to extend their influence on politics. However, opponents say scrapping the licence fee system would be the end of the SBC, which provides services in German, French, Italian and Romansh on its domestic channels, and would undermine the cohesion of multilingual Switzerland. They also say it is unfair to impose the licence fee on private households and companies alike. Initiative supporters argue the SBC, which also includes swissinfo.ch, is too dominant and should be forced to downsize.

The reasons for or against the initiative have largely remained the same, according to the pollsters. “The situation at the moment appears to be clear, and there is every indication that the initiative will be thrown out by voters in ten days,” Mousson added. They expect an average turnout of between 45% and 50% on March 4. The researchers say they found no signs of a protest vote or a last-minute mass mobilisation of voters. “It seems that pledges by the SBC top management to reform the public broadcaster were thought credible notably among people in the main German-speaking part of the country.” “The involvement of civil society against the initiative led to heated debates, pushing supporters of the initiative into a corner,” says Lukas Golder, co-director of the GfS Bern institute. “The long-running debate has been losing steam and chances of the initiative gaining the upper hand are waning,” says GfS political scientist Martina Mousson.ĭiscussions about the initiative began last October, triggering emotional campaigns and broad coverage in the following month both by traditional and social media.

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