The Swedish government may have a majority in parliament, but they are polling 11 points behind the opposition.
They are polling not only below their 2022 election result, but below the 2018 election result for these parties. https://officiell-info.se/@svtnyheter/110823664196243877
The Swedish Social Democrats are polliat a ten-year high. This implies that in both UK and Sweden, by 2026, we'll see social democratic governments with stable majorities. I hope they use them wisely to make structural changes to the energy systems.
The Finnish Social Democrats are also now polling as the biggest party, as above all young women move away from supporting the right-far-right government parties. https://svenska.yle.fi/a/7-10039072
I don't think social democracy is the answer to all our problems, but if I'm locked in a prison ship and we're sinking I'd like to at least have a prison ship captain who accepts the existence of drowning as a concept.
@Loukas It must be remembered, though, that it's a lot easier to have good polls when you don't have the power. In Denmark the social democrats are absolutely suffering in the polls right now.
@anderspuck yes absolutely, and in Finland this may be a large element of the shift, but from what I know about developments in Sweden and UK I can say those is part of very long-term changes which mean things won't just flip after the next election. Both UK and Sweden social democrats have basically become the 'non-crazy centrist party' and generalised their appeal to something similar to what the USA Democrats have.
@Loukas I think UK suffers from being a two party system. It is not conductive for centrist politics, so I fear it will continue to be a pendulum.
I haven't followed Swedish politics that closely, but didn't the social democrats just lose power?
@anderspuck a pendulum implies equal swings. The conservatives after the Brexit referendum decided to exploit the situation to gain a new electoral coalition based on nationalist-populist ideology. That's run out of steam, meanwhile the Labour party is as centrist as ever. This means the conservatives have lost the votes of the educated middle class and no longer have the nationalist issue to mobilise the working class and lower middle class. The party needs to be rebuilt after Boris.
I agree, I can see the Tories losing the next election but even with a majority for labour, we NEED a strong opposition to hold themk to account, ask the right questions and ensure election promises are kept.
Perhaps one way for them to win, would be for labour to have a presense on fedi, we are building numbers and need to be able to interact and learn what policies they have from social media as in here. They are NOT going to reach potential voters here by being on mainstream social media.
@zleap I don't think Mastodon is a way to reach voters, not for the foreseeable future, unfortunately.
While I agree, but if they are here even in the form of a bot that can post content that is posted elsewhere on their channels it would help them reach out, plus that content would in effect ne subscribe only as only those following would see it.
If it was an offical bot account then it would take content and publish here, we can still interact with it, or at least favorite / boost, but that is a starting point.
There is always talk of social media being the main battle ground, well things need to start somewhere.
@zleap (small platforms are great for discussion and organising of the politically active, but I was talking in particular about ways to reach voters)
@zleap the social media battlegrounds are the places where there are lots of people, not the niche platforms.