"Løkke sets a new low point in scaremongering: 'It is a party in crisis'"

The whole situation seemed to be heading straight for the book after the publication.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen and the Moderates entered the Danish parliament in the fall of 2022 with 16 seats, and the party received exactly what it got afterwards: a broad government over the center.

Since then, the party has left its mark on much of the policy that the government has passed, but there have been so many bumps in the road that a large part of the electorate has lost faith in the project.

This loss of faith is underscored by a fresh Verian poll, in which the party stands at only 3.6% of the votes.

This is the party's lowest Verian poll in the entire election period.

"I think honestly that Løkke has made a lot in the discussion with the USA, which we see the voters value a lot. But one must simply say that Mette Frederiksen is the one who capitalizes on it," says Thomas Juul-Dam, who was a special advisor for Helle Thorning-Schmidt for three years when she was prime minister.

Kasper Møller Hansen, who is a professor of political science at the University of Copenhagen and a pollster with in-depth knowledge of Danish voter behavior, assesses that we still see remnants of the internal crisis that hit the party last fall.

At the time, it became known that the party's secretariat apparently had a poor working environment.

"The group should be halved, and they have almost done it already. It is a party in crisis, and it is so much built around Løkke that if he chooses to step down, the party is gone. It is only on his grace," says Kasper Møller Hansen.

The Moderates had worse opinion polls than they do now up until the latest parliamentary election, where the party still received 9.3% of the votes.

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Moderates do not own important issues

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Kasper Møller Hansen and Thomas Juul-Dam find several reasons why the Moderates are so poorly placed in the new Verian poll as the party does.

However, one of the reasons can be that it is Mette Frederiksen who benefits most from being Denmark's front character towards US President Donald Trump's approaches in a world in turmoil, they both assess.

"They do not own the issues that capture voters, because what captures the Danes most is the relationship with the USA, and it seems that it is Mette Frederiksen who has ownership of it," says Thomas Juul-Dam.

Kasper Møller Hansen assesses that the Moderates have stopped the determined voter exodus that was otherwise in progress. This Verian poll gives the Moderates a drop of 0.2 percentage points compared to the latest of the same kind from the institute.

"But they have not corrected themselves significantly," says the pollster.

You often talk about ownership of political issues. Can one speak of the Moderates having ownership of any issues?

"No. That can't be. They may have ownership of the mid-government project. The belief in having a pragmatic government that keeps the wings out is their project."

The SVM government stands at 38.2% of the votes in the poll.

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