More and more people want the king to leave the throne
Dagens Nyheter (DN) and Ipsos made an opinion poll.
Question 1: There is now a debate of the roll of the monarchy in Sweden. What do you think, should the monarchy be retained or abolished?
Question 2: Do you think it's time for the king to hand over the throne to Victoria so that she becomes queen or should the king remain on the throne?
Swedish people's verdict: Time to hand over the throne, the king. For the first time there are more who want Crown Princess Victoria take over now - than that the king shall remain. Meanwhile, opposition to the monarchy increases, according to a new survey.
The king traveled around Sweden to celebrate his 40 years on the throne. But it has not strengthened his position. According to the poll of those surveyed, 48 % want the king to hand over the throne, while 39 % want him to remain. It is the first time that the percentage who want the king step off is greater than the group who want him to stay. In May 2011 it was 41 % who wanted the king to hand over to Victoria, while 44 % wanted him to continue as head of state.
And the change has been rapid. As late as February 2010, 64 % of respondents said that the king should remain.
- That more people want Victoria to take over the throne may be an expression of dissatisfaction how the king does his work. But it may also be that as the king gets older and Victoria grows into her role the change of the regent becomes more natural and obvious, says Johanna Laurin Gulled, public opinion analyst at Ipsos.
The support for the monarchy has also reduced. Now 64 % want to keep the monarchy, compared to 80 % when Ipsos started their measurements in January 2005. The biggest change since the last survey in May 2011 is that the opposition to the monarchy increases, now 27 % want to abolish the monarchy, increased by 6 %. When the last survey was conducted in May 2011, the king was under fire. It had been published details of alleged infidelity and his friends' contacts with criminals.
- Now there is no similar event that could have influenced the support for the monarchy, says Johanna Laurin Gulled.
Young people are significantly more negative about the monarchy than the older ones.
- There is a clear age difference. If there really is a generational issue, that they retain their opinion later on, it will be seen in the support for the monarchy, but we can only speculate about today, says Laurin Gulled.
Allt fler vill att kungen ska lämna tronen - DN.SE
Translation
Ewa Stenberg writes at her column in DN (you have to be registrated to read the whole column)
The Swedish people have not turned a page in it's support for King Carl Gustaf. More and more people want to abolish the monarchy and the Crown Princess has now a greater support for the throne than the king. Such a shift could strengthen support for the monarchy in Sweden.
Ewa Stenberg Ett skifte kan öka stödet för monarkin - DN.SE
Expressen about the poll: The majority wants the king to resign
Majoritet vill att kungen avgår Nyheter Expressen
Aftonbladet about the poll: The verdict: Leave the throne, king. The Swedish people want to see a queen on the throne.
Domen Lämna tronen, kungen Nyheter Aftonbladet
This is very interesting. The results show that the king's nice celebrations don't have had an effect to his popularity. Or if they have, the figures must have been really low in the summer...
Svenska Dagbladet about the poll: More people want Victoria to take over
Fler vill att Victoria tar över Inrikes SvD