Busch tops trust poll as Andersson loses ground

Confidence in Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson has fallen sharply, while Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch has moved into first place, according to the latest confidence poll by SVT and Verian.

Andersson’s support fell from 45 percent in August to 37 percent in September, the lowest figure she has recorded in SVT and Verian’s polls. Confidence in Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, the Moderate Party leader, was 38 percent, putting him level with Andersson among voters.

Busch reached 42 percent, her highest score ever in Verian’s surveys. Her support has traditionally been strongest among voters backing the governing parties, but confidence has now also increased among red-green voters.

“Magdalena Andersson’s high level of confidence has been a strength for the Social Democrats. She has long stood in a class of her own, and during the 2022 election campaign her figures were well above 50 percent,” said Per Söderpalm, Verian’s polling manager.

He said the narrowing gap between Andersson and several leaders from the governing parties represented a clear change from earlier polls.

The share of voters who believe the government is doing a good job has also increased since August, including among red-green voters. Söderpalm said this could be one reason the political situation has become more even recently, while stressing that other factors could also have influenced the results.

Among the smaller parties, Liberal Party leader Simona Mohamsson recorded the largest increase, rising by 10 percentage points. Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist and Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar also recorded significant increases.

Four days remain until the election. Söderpalm said the trends were positive for the government but that it was difficult to know how they would affect the result. Swedish voters generally vote primarily based on parties and ideology rather than individual politicians, he said.

The web-based survey was conducted from September 1 to 3 among 1,025 people aged 18 to 84 in the randomly recruited, nationally representative Sifo panel. Respondents were asked whether they had fairly high or very high confidence in the various party leaders.