Election 2015: 'Red' Johanne is voters' favourite

The Red/Greens’ Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, who would have been forced to leave parliament because of internal party rotation rules if the election hadn’t been called before June 1st, is the most popular party leader in Denmark. This is according to Seven59.dk, dr.dk and other media.

In a new Epinion survey for DR News, in which respondents were asked whether they had a positive or negative view of each individual party leader, the feisty socialist garnered a plus rating of 24 pct. – 56 pct. of voters hold a positive view, while 32 percent are ‘negatively inclined’ – putting her in the top spot.

Fellow ‘red’ travellers Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Socialist People’s Party leader Pia Olsen Dyhr are number two and three, with ratings of 20 pct. and 16 pct. respectively, while Danish People’s Party leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl, with plus 15 percent, is the highest ranked opposition leader at number four.

Centre-left surge

Three opposition leaders fill the last three spots – Conservative boss Søren Pape Poulsen is the least popular with a negative 18 percent, just below ex-prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Liberal Alliance leader Anders Samuelsen, both with minus 17 pct.

Political analyst Karin Axelsson said Ms Schmidt-Nielsen’s popularity is a major bonus for the centre-left in the election campaign, while opposition leaders are going to have work hard to surmount the negativity.

Read article (in Danish) here.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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