Six out of ten Swedes already think new government is 'doing a poor job'
A clear majority of voters in Sweden believe that the new Moderate-led government is “doing a poor job” of running the country, a new poll carried out by Demoskop for the Aftonbladet newspaper has found, showing a growing dissatisfaction with its failure to carry through on campaign promises.
A combined 62 percent of respondents felt that the government was doing "quite" or "very" poorly, up 20 percentage points from November, when only 42 percent felt the government was doing badly, the poll found.
The share of voters believing the government was doing “very badly” has increased by 16 percentage points to 37 percent, while the share believing the government was doing “quite badly” had risen by 3 percentage points to 25 percent.
Only 8 percent of respondents thought that the government was doing a “very good” job (down 7 percentage points) and only 28 percent thought it was doing “quite a good job” (up one percentage point).
Demoskop carried out 1,808 interviews between December 12th and December 19th, meaning the figures do not include the impact on public opinion of the announcement on December 22nd that the government's promised electricity compensation for businesses hit by high power prices would need to be drawn up once again as the government believed it would not pass EU state aid rules.
In the election, the parties in the government had promised to have a system of high-cost protection against high electricity prices in place for both consumers and businesses in place by November, or at least "before Christmas".
At the end of November, the country's energy and business minister Ebba Busch said that the scheme for consumers would not be paid out until February.
The government is also a scheme developed by the previous Social Democrat government to use the bottle-neck fees collected by Sweden's grid operator Svenska Kraftnät, rather than put in place the promised system of high cost protection, which would have come out of the government's budget.
Election pledges to cut the price of petrol and diesel at the pump have also yet to be fulfilled to anything like the extent promised by the Moderates, Christian Democrats and Sweden Democrats during the election campaign.
The Demoskop poll is only the latest in a succession of disappointing polls for the government, with a poll carried out by Ipsos for Dagens Nyheter published before Christmas putting support for the opposition Social Democrats on 25 percent, the party's highest poll result since February 2014, with the four opposition parties holding a 53 percent majority.
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A combined 62 percent of respondents felt that the government was doing "quite" or "very" poorly, up 20 percentage points from November, when only 42 percent felt the government was doing badly, the poll found.
The share of voters believing the government was doing “very badly” has increased by 16 percentage points to 37 percent, while the share believing the government was doing “quite badly” had risen by 3 percentage points to 25 percent.
Only 8 percent of respondents thought that the government was doing a “very good” job (down 7 percentage points) and only 28 percent thought it was doing “quite a good job” (up one percentage point).
Demoskop carried out 1,808 interviews between December 12th and December 19th, meaning the figures do not include the impact on public opinion of the announcement on December 22nd that the government's promised electricity compensation for businesses hit by high power prices would need to be drawn up once again as the government believed it would not pass EU state aid rules.
In the election, the parties in the government had promised to have a system of high-cost protection against high electricity prices in place for both consumers and businesses in place by November, or at least "before Christmas".
At the end of November, the country's energy and business minister Ebba Busch said that the scheme for consumers would not be paid out until February.
The government is also a scheme developed by the previous Social Democrat government to use the bottle-neck fees collected by Sweden's grid operator Svenska Kraftnät, rather than put in place the promised system of high cost protection, which would have come out of the government's budget.
Election pledges to cut the price of petrol and diesel at the pump have also yet to be fulfilled to anything like the extent promised by the Moderates, Christian Democrats and Sweden Democrats during the election campaign.
The Demoskop poll is only the latest in a succession of disappointing polls for the government, with a poll carried out by Ipsos for Dagens Nyheter published before Christmas putting support for the opposition Social Democrats on 25 percent, the party's highest poll result since February 2014, with the four opposition parties holding a 53 percent majority.
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