Wilders jump-starts campaign as party sinks in Dutch polls

[TomSea]

Wilders jump-starts campaign as party sinks in Dutch polls

Martijn van der Starre and Corina Ruhe
March 3, 2017, 5:01 PM CST
Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders resumed his campaign for this month’s elections as polls suggested that voters were turning away from his populist message.

Wilders, who has lived for more than a decade under government protection, picked up his public appearances on Friday with an unannounced visit to the fishing village of Volendam north of Amsterdam. Dutch media reported that it was his first campaign stop since he canceled all public events last week citing security concerns.

The visit to a local restaurant -- where Dutch broadcaster NOS carried pictures of the owner serving Wilders a beer -- came on the back of an Ipsos poll showing his party slipping still further against Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals less than two weeks out from the March 15 election. That’s a turnaround from a lead of as many as 12 seats in the 150-seat Dutch parliament at the beginning of the year.

Continued: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-03/wilders-jump-starts-campaign-as-his-party-sinks-in-dutch-polls