SD Loses Ground in the Polls – Mattias Karlsson Attacks His Own Voters

Things haven’t gone well for the Sweden Democrats since the parliamentary election. They lost ground for the first time in a parliamentary election, and now they’re losing even more ground in a poll, while the Moderates are surging. Now, party leader Mattias Karlsson is trying to use the numbers to push his own liberal agenda of ”open Swedishness” and take aim at nationalist voters. The response is hardly what he expected.

In Indikator’s latest opinion poll, which Frihetsnytt reported on Thursday, the Moderates have surged ahead to 26.3 percent. This is just 0.7 percentage points behind the Social Democrats, which have long been Sweden’s largest party, at 27.0 percent. At the same time, the Sweden Democrats are falling further, from 17.5 percent in the parliamentary election to 16.3 percent now.

This is now used by Mattias Karlsson, the Sweden Democrats” ”chief ideologist,” who in recent days has been actively attacking nationalists and those who believe that ethnicity is a factor in being classified as Swedish. Instead, he is a staunch advocate of so-called ”open Swedishness,” which means that anyone can claim to be ”Swedish” as long as they meet certain cultural, linguistic, and social criteria.

In a post on X Karlsson argues that the figures are a sign that the Sweden Democrats” alignment with the establishment and the erosion of Swedish identity are the ”right path.” What Karlsson advocates is a ”broader” and ”more pragmatic” path, one that involves adapting to the more politically correct center-right.

At the same time, he takes the opportunity to once again attack nationalists, whose views should not be taken into account—or, as he puts it:

”Figures like these underscore that the way forward does not lie in radicalization and pandering to the far right in the remote backwaters.”

The statement quickly drew criticism, and many pointed out that those Karlsson refers to as ”the hard-line right in the outlying swamplands” are, in fact, the party’s most important voters. Nick Alinia argues that Karlsson’s wording singles out segments of the SD’s own voters and grassroots supporters—people who want to protect their country and their people.

Other X-profiles point out that the Moderate Party (M) has likely grown because it has adopted some of the Sweden Democrats’ (SD) rhetoric, such as a tougher stance on crime and criticism of mass immigration. In practice, the Moderate Party has become more like the Sweden Democrats, while the Sweden Democrats have, in fact, become more like the Moderate Party.

”You’re in the wrong party”

The Debater Fredric Morenius levels an even harsher accusation against Karlsson. He argues that the chief ideologist’s political line effectively benefits the Moderates at the expense of the Sweden Democrats.

”The path you’re taking will lead to the Moderates gaining ground and the Sweden Democrats losing ground. So you’re actually working for the Moderates rather than the Sweden Democrats. You’re simply in the wrong party.”