After Social Democrats’ shock drop, ‘a warning bell’ before Sweden’s election

Eleven days before Sweden votes, the Social Democrats have suffered a sharp fall in a new Novus poll, turning what some voters viewed as an expected change of government into an open contest.

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This is a warning bell.

The party dropped more than four percentage points to 25.8 percent. Its secretary, Tobias Baudin, called the result “a warning bell” and said the Social Democrats remained far from the level they wanted. He argued that many voters had long assumed a change of government was essentially settled and that Magdalena Andersson would become prime minister.

“This poll shows that the election is not decided. On the contrary, the election is now coming to a head,” Baudin said at a news conference. The opposition’s lead over the governing bloc narrowed to 2.6 percentage points.

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This poll shows that the election is not decided. On the contrary, the election is now coming to a head.

The Left Party and Centre Party both increased their support, reaching 8.4 and 8.3 percent respectively. The Liberals moved closer to the parliamentary threshold at 3.3 percent, their highest figure since Simona Mohamsson became party leader. Mohamsson said the result gave the party momentum, although she insisted she was not celebrating and described it as evidence that voters wanted to support Sweden’s school-focused party.

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It is clear that this gives us momentum.

Among the Tidö parties, the Moderates slipped to just above 17 percent while the Sweden Democrats rose 1.6 points to 20.7 percent. SD secretary Mattias Bäckström Johansson said only a small number of votes could decide the election. He also pointed to growing membership and engagement in local districts, saying support for the party had become more socially accepted during the current parliamentary term and through the Tidö cooperation.

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I am not celebrating in any way. But I think we should see it as proof that the Swedish people want to support Sweden’s only school party.