Center Party voters prefer left-wing government to snap election

Center Party voters would rather see the party join a government with the Social Democrats, Green Party and Left Party than have a snap election, according to a poll by Indikator Opinion commissioned by SVT. The party’s voters would, however, prefer a snap election to a right-wing government supported by the Sweden Democrats, SVT reported.

“Center Party voters have increasingly begun to place themselves on the left,” Indikator Opinion’s head of polling, Per Oleskog Tryggvason, told SVT. He said the results also suggest that opposition to the right is stronger than opposition to the left.

Among voters for the four red-green parties, 83% preferred a government in which the Social Democrats, Green Party, Center Party and Left Party all had ministerial posts, while 8% preferred a snap election and 9% were undecided. A further 66% preferred a government of the Social Democrats and Green Party without ministerial posts for the Center Party and Left Party; 16% chose a snap election and 17% were undecided.

A narrow majority of Left Party voters also preferred that two-party government to a snap election, the poll found. Oleskog Tryggvason said this showed that some voters did not regard having a place in government as a red line.

Overall, 70% of red-green voters said an agreement between the Social Democrats, Left Party, Green Party and Center Party was very or fairly likely. A total of 25% said it was fairly or very unlikely, while 5% did not know. Asked which group would increase its combined support in a snap election, 42% selected the right-wing parties, compared with 14% for the red-green parties. Another 25% said neither group and 19% did not know.

Asked which party bore the greatest responsibility for difficulties forming a government, 41% named the Center Party, 39% the Left Party, 12% the Social Democrats and 1% the Green Party. The poll was conducted from 2 to 7 October among 1,624 red-green voters recruited to Indikator Opinion’s panel. The response rate among invited panel members was 43%.