56% of the Flemish population thinks this slogan is good, or even very good, 53% of Flanders know that this is the slogan of the N-VA party and even 71% think that this slogan matches very well with N-VA. “Nu durven veranderen” hits the nail on the head according to many Flemish people: we are faced with many big challenges but politicians need to have the courage to make the necessary changes. The slogan is positive without being aggressive. Short, powerful but also meaningful. The survey also shows that 61% of the Flemish people prefer voting right to compulsory voting. Only 4% of voters intend not to vote on June 13th. In Limburg we can even speak of a Stijn Meuris effect: 7% of the voters in Limburg intend not to vote!
Between June 1 and 6th, Market Research agency Profacts asked a total of 1.000 Flemish people to give their opinion about the slogans that are used in the current federal election campaigns by the Flemish political parties, and tested their knowledge of these slogans. The sample of N=1000 Flemish people is representative for the Flemish population of voters (18+), for age, sex, province and social class.
Following slogans were tested:
Nooit opgeven – CD&V
Een nieuwe start – Open VLD
Nu durven veranderen – N-VA
We moeten weer vooruit – SP.A
Vlamingen 1st – Vlaams Belang
úw centen, daar gaat het om – Lijst Dedecker
Maak 13 positief – Groen!
Stem tegen dit politieke circus – PvdA
When presented without the corresponding parties, the Flemish voters find the slogan “Nu durven veranderen” of N-VA the best : 23% of the Flemish finds this the very best slogan. That means the slogan scores much higher than all other slogans. The slogan of Groen! – “Maak 13 positief” – is clearly the least of the slogans: only 6% of the Flemish population chooses this slogan as the best one. The slogan of CD&V – “Nooit opgeven” scores very low, with less than 10% of the Flemish population preferring this slogan. The slogan of N-VA scores well with all target groups, but better with men (26%) than with women (21%) and with the age group younger than 30 years old (27%) and older than 60 years (26%).
| % Flemisch people thinks this is the best slogan | |
| Nu durven veranderen | 23,6% |
| Een nieuwe start | 13,6% |
| Vlamingen 1st | 12,8% |
| Stem tegen dit politieke circus | 11,7% |
| Úw centen, daar gaat het om | 11,6% |
| We moeten weer vooruit | 11,0% |
| Nooit opgeven | 9,6% |
| Maak 13 positief | 6,2% |
Next to the ranking of the slogans, people were also asked to tell wether they find the slogans good or bad. Again, the slogan of NV-A was given the best scores. The slogan of Groen! was judged the worst. 56% of the Flemish population thinks that “Nu durven veranderen” is a good or a very good slogan, and only 17% of the voters think the same of “Maak 13 positief”.
| % of the Flemisch population that think this is a good or a very good slogan | |
| Nu durven veranderen | 55,7% |
| We moeten weer vooruit | 42,6% |
| Een nieuwe start | 40,3% |
| Úw centen, daar gaat het om | 38,0% |
| Nooit opgeven | 35,6% |
| Stem tegen dit politieke circus | 31,8% |
| Vlamingen 1st | 27,3% |
| Maak 13 positief | 17,5% |
The slogan of Groen! – Maak 13 positief – receives bad scores because most do not understand this slogan or because they find it irrelevant. Moreover it proves to be a bad idea to refer to the number 13, which is linked to bad luck. The slogan of N-VA (“Nu durven veranderen”) hits the nail on the head for many Flemish people: we are faced with many big challenges but politicians need to have the courage to make the necessary changes. The slogan is positive without being aggressive. Short, powerful but also meaningful.
Recognition of the slogans is highest for Vlaams Belang: 90% of the voters know that the slogan ‘Vlamingen 1st’ is from Vlaams Belang. The slogan of N-VA receives very good scores as well, and comes in second place: 53% of the Flemish population knows that “Nu durven veranderen” is the slogan of N-VA. 50% knows that “Nooit opgeven” belongs to CD&V, which makes this slogan third. The bad scores of the slogan of CD&V are not due to the fact that the slogan is unknown. “Een nieuwe start” and “Stem tegen dit politieke circus” are the slogans that are known the least: only 36% of the Flemish voters know that these are the slogans of Open VLD and PvdA. Open VLD misses an opportunity: their slogan is very well received, but few people actually know that this slogan is theirs.
| % Flemish people that indicate the right party for the correct slogan | |
| Vlamingen 1st | 89,9% |
| Nu durven veranderen | 53,2% |
| Nooit opgeven | 49,9% |
| Maak 13 positief | 42,4% |
| We moeten weer vooruit | 40,0% |
| Úw centen, daar gaat het om | 39,4% |
| Een nieuwe start | 36,3% |
| Stem tegen dit politieke circus | 36,1% |
Subsequently for each slogan the party was indicated. For each slogan was asked if the slogan had a good fit with the political party. Winners were, again, Vlaams Belang and N-VA. The slogan ‘Vlamingen 1st’ has a good and even very good fit for 85% of the voters with Vlaams Belang. 71% says that ‘Nu durven veranderen’ fits N-VA well to very well. The slogan “Maak 13 positief” comes last again: only 32% of the Flemish population finds that this slogan fits Groen! well of even very well.
| % of the Flemish population that find the slogan and the party match well or very well | |
| Vlamingen 1st | 85,0% |
| Nu durven veranderen | 70,9% |
| Úw centen, daar gaat het om | 51,9% |
| Stem tegen dit politieke circus | 48,2% |
| Nooit opgeven | 44,4% |
| We moeten weer vooruit | 43,8% |
| Een nieuwe start | 40,1% |
| Maak 13 positief | 32,0% |
Next to the questions about the slogans, participants were also asked about their opinion about voting right versus compulsory voting.
61,2% of Flemish voters indicate to be pro voting right, while 38,8% would rather keep compulsory voting. In case of voting right, 76,3% of Flemish voters would vote anyway. Amongst the voters for Vlaams Belang we find the most in favor of voting right (69% pro voting right). This is also the case for Lijst Dedecker (83%). If voting right would become a reality, these would be the voters that would stay at home the most. Vlaams Belang and Lijst Dedecker would have most to lose if ever voting right would become a reality. The voters that are most motivated we find amongst PvdA and Groen!. There, respectively 90% and 91% would vote even if there were voting right instead of compulsory voting.
Although some popular Flemish stars have asked not to vote on June 13th, only 4,3% of Flemish voters claim that they will not vote. This intention exists more with men (6%) than it does with women (3%), more for the age group of higher than 60 years (6%) than for people younger than 30(2%). What strikes most is that the intention not to vote is higher in Limburg (7%) compared to the other provinces (4%). This is probably due to some kind of Stijn Meuris effect.








