The opposition bloc of Social Democrats, Green party and Left party now lead by 3.9 percentage points – 50 percent to the Alliance government’s 46.1 percent, according to a new poll by Synovate published in Saturday’s Dagens Nyheter.
Support for the opposition bloc is now at its lowest level since October 2006, shortly after the last parliamentary elections and its lead cut from a peak of 19 points in August 2008.
The government’s tough stance on troubled car maker Saab and general management of the financial crisis has boosted support for the Alliance parties to levels not seen since the heady days following their election victory.
A recent agreement over the future of nuclear power is also given as a reason for the government’s buoyant showing.
At the same time divisions among the opposition coalition are argued to have damaged the parties’ standing.
Fredrik Reinfeldt’s Moderates continued their dramatic climb of recent months and in the Synovate poll gained the support of 28.8 percent of voters. The party has climbed almost seven points since the financial crises broke out in the autumn.
Mona Sahlin’s Social Democrats meanwhile declined to 38.1 percent, their lowest level since October 2006 and down seven points since the autumn.
Maud Olofsson’s Centre party dropped to 5.2 percent in the February poll after announcing a controversial change in nuclear energy policy to fall in line with Alliance colleagues.
The Liberal party received 7.1 percent, up from 5.9 in January. The Christian Democrats edged up from 4.1 percent to 4.9 percent.
The Green party and Left party showed little change and polled 6.3 percent and 5.6 percent respectively.
Synovate interviewed 2,480 people between February 10th-25th.
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