Local Unemployment and Other Factors Inßuencing Individual Government Approval in Finland∗

We document the inßuence of local unemployment, political orientation and socio-economic background on individual citizen’s government support. From the point of view of the responsibility hypothesis, the inßuence of the local unemployment on the respondent’s government approval likelihood is somewhat confusing. During the right government the high local unemployment does not decrease respondent’s approval likelihood, but during the multi-party government it does. Obvious explanation comes from the Centre Party’s dominant position in the rural, high unemployment regions. Otherwise, we get results supporting the class dealignment, the importance of political orientation on government support, the increased likelihood of non-support if facing the risk of being less-well-off, and the positive attitude towards the government of the youngs amidst all the turbulence in the society.