Published: Less than 10 min ago
Ulf Kristersson (M) is losing confidence according to a new survey from Aftonbladet/Demoskop.
At the same time, Jimmy Åkesson (SD) is the race M leader.
– A significant event is the process surrounding the NATO application. It could be up to him, says Karin Nelsson, CEO at Demoskop.
The right-wing bloc has benefited from having invited the Sweden Democrats to negotiate on substantive issues, should they end up in government.
That’s what Karin Nelsson, CEO of Demoskop, says about why the party leaders of the Sweden Democrats, the Moderates and the Christian Democrats all get 40 percent in the survey from Aftonbladet/Demoskop regarding trust in party leaders.
She compares with the month of August 2018, and the measurement that was made before the parliamentary election then. All three parties have increased their trust in the party leader since that survey.
– The party leaders of these parties have significantly higher confidence now than in 2018, there is a reason for that which is obvious. In 2018, there was still a community between the voters of the former Alliance. What happened during the term is that we had the January agreement, which split up the Alliance, and that the Sweden Democrats are now part of the right-wing opposition and the government base that Ulf Kristersson wants to form.
She describes it as voters “backing up” each other’s party leaders.
– That is the main explanation for the high numbers. SD’s voters raise the numbers of the other party leaders, you can also see that for Johan Pehrson and the Liberals, because they have now clearly chosen a side.
– There is another reason for a generally higher confidence in party leaders that we now see, and it is about the fact that this mandate period we have had a number of major crises that have turned our attention to the political leadership, both a pandemic and Russia’s attack on Ukraine with the NATO application as a result.
Just as in the Aftonbladet/Demoskop survey from July, Johan Pehrson’s confidence continues to increase. Then he went up by 12 percentage points, now in August with a more modest two, to 31 percent. This means a doubling since he took office in May.
The fact that Åkesson, Kristersson and Busch are equal in terms of trust gives them a good starting point, says Karin Nelsson.
– The fact that they have a high degree of trust, which is in any case higher than the party sympathies for the respective party, means that the voters listen to what they have to say.
– It is good to be able to attract voters from other parties, and to be able to talk and lead with credibility.
The fact that all three of them get exactly the same figure, 40 percent, possibly means that they appeared together as a team with joint political proposals.
– Johan Pehrson is also on his way into this, from the side, says Karin Nelsson.
However, there is a difference.
M leader Ulf Kristersson loses two percentage points in the confidence survey. The other party leaders are increasing.
– A significant recent event is the process surrounding the NATO application. As opposition leader, it may not have been so good for Ulf Kristersson when he appeared together with Magdalena Andersson and then hung on to a vote of no confidence against her. It could be up to him.
It may also have affected Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, who lost five percentage points compared to the June survey and now increases marginally, one percentage point, to 53 percent.
– We saw upset voters from left to right then. The ones who seem to have lost it are Magdalena Andersson and Ulf Kristersson.
The S leader, on the other hand, has a high level of trust, 53 percent. Karin Nelsson says that these are figures that are “rarely seen” and can be compared most closely with the broad popularity Reinfeldt had.
– She has led the country through a pandemic, piloted us into a NATO application and also during Russia’s war in Ukraine. It has created confidence in the electorate.
Aftonbladet/Demoskop also measures which issue is most important to voters.
This time too, law and order is at the top, just as it has been for the past year.
– Law and order is what the election will be about. Even if the question decreases somewhat, it is clearly at the top.
In second place is healthcare, and in third place energy and nuclear power.
Facts
About the trust survey
The survey was carried out by Demoskop on behalf of Aftonbladet within the framework of the Inizio panel, which reflects the Swedish people. The target group is the public aged 18 and over. The survey includes 3001 interviews during the period July 26–August 4, 2022 and is conducted as a web survey.
The selection is pre-stratified and weighted by age, gender, region and party in the previous election.
Read moreFacts
About the survey around the most important question
The survey was carried out by Demoskop on behalf of Aftonbladet within the framework of the Inizio panel, which reflects the Swedish people. The target group is the public aged 18 and over. The survey includes 1,209 interviews during the period July 28–August 2, 2022 and is conducted as a web survey.
The selection is pre-stratified and weighted by age, gender, region and party in the previous election.
Read more
Join our opinion panel
Do you want to take part and answer Demoskop’s surveys where we find out what the Swedish people think about, for example, social issues and politics? Results are presented, among other things, in Aftonbladet. Answering is voluntary, you are anonymous and can opt out whenever you want. Click on the link to sign up.