The Sweden Democrats are gaining ground in Västerbotten and Umeå, according to a Demoskop poll commissioned by Västerbottens-Kuriren.
In the Umeå municipal election, the Sweden Democrats’ share of the vote rose from 6 to 8 percent. The increase of 1.6 percentage points is statistically validated. Demoskop's Director of Public Opinion Research Johan Martinsson calls it ”relatively strong” and says the same trend is evident throughout the county.
– The increase is about 1.6 percentage points, and it is guaranteed, ," Martinsson tells Riks.
At the same time, the Social Democrats lost four percentage points in Umeå, dropping from 36 to 32 percent. This result is also statistically significant. The Green Party rose from 6 to 9 percent and is being cited as one of the big winners at the local level.
The SD's district chair in Västerbotten, Petter Nilsson, views the figures as positive and believes that most of the new votes will come from the Social Democrats.
– I’d say that most of them are probably Social Democrats. That’s the most reasonable assumption., ", Nilsson tells Riks.
The survey was conducted August 12–23 and yielded 1,137 responses. Nationally, the Sweden Democrats have not seen the same increase in public support. Locally in Västerbotten, however, there is a clear trend.
I was in Umeå this summer. When I saw the people there, I felt like I was in Africa.
No, don't tell me that even UMEÅ has turned into MENA, just like the Capital, Gothenburg, and GhettoMalmö. :-(