Government closes voter gap: poll

The Synovate poll, in conjunction with newspaper Dagens Nyheter, reveals that the government has gained supporter ground by 2.8 percentage points at the start of the election year.

In the December poll, the opposition received 49.4 percent against the government’s 42.9 percent.

Synovate analyst Nicklas Källebring believes that recent debate and disagreement within opposition circles over the question of sickness benefits has swayed opinion.

“Things were very turbulent for a few weeks,” he said. “But that issue has been pushed back now.”

The Moderate Party is the biggest winner with 29.3 percent and has now resumed the same level of support it achieved in the autumn. The Social Democrats remain the largest party with 34.9 percent.

The Left Party (4.6 percent) is causing the biggest concern for the opposition, while the Centre Party (4.8 percent) has not plummeted so low in Synovate records since August 2002.

The poll also showed some sizeable divisions between the sexes of voters.

Among males, 47.7 percent supported the Alliance while 45.2 percent backed the oppostion.

Meanwhile, female voters showed a 52 percent allegiance towards the opposition and 43.8 percent for the Alliance.

Results of January Synovate poll (December results in parentheses):

Moderate Party 29.3 (+2.6)

Liberal Party 7.3 (+0.6)

Centre Party 4.8 (+0.1)

Christian Democrats 4.4 (-0.3)

Social Democrats 34.9 (+0.6)

Left Party 4.6 (-0.7)

Green Party 9.1 (-0.7)

Sweden Democrats 4.1 (-1.2)

Others 1.6 (-0.8)