Sweden’s Liberal Party sees no poll boost after shift on Sweden Democrats

A new opinion poll by SVT/Verian shows Sweden’s Liberal Party (L) has failed to gain support after its decision to open the door to governing with the Sweden Democrats (SD), remaining at just 2.2 percent—well below the parliamentary threshold.

The April survey, published Thursday, reveals no significant change for the Liberals compared to March (2.1 percent), despite the party’s mid-March announcement that it would accept SD in a potential right-wing coalition government after September’s election.

“The Liberals have not seen any poll boost after their decision to allow SD into government,” said Per Söderpalm, head of opinion research at Verian. “While they may be drawing some voters from other Tidö parties [the centre-right bloc], they are simultaneously losing support to the Centre Party and Social Democrats.”

The poll underscores broader challenges for the ruling Tidö bloc, which now trails the opposition by 8.7 percentage points (44.7 percent vs. 53.4 percent). The Moderates, the bloc’s largest party, also dipped to 16.8 percent—their lowest Verian rating since 2019.

“With five months until the election, the Tidö parties face several hurdles,” Söderpalm said. “The gap to the opposition is wide, the Liberals remain below the 4 percent parliamentary threshold, and the bloc struggles to attract voters from the left.”

The Centre Party, meanwhile, rose for the second consecutive month to 6.8 percent—its highest level this electoral term—drawing voters from both the Social Democrats and Tidö parties.

Verian’s poll, conducted March 23–April 6 among roughly 3,000 respondents, notes that none of the shifts are statistically significant compared to March. The margin of error was not specified.