Analysis: "The consequence may be reduced confidence in politicians"

Novus 'survey of voters' views on climate change clearly shows the political tensions in this issue. An overwhelming majority believes that climate change is an urgent matter, but if the results of the various parties are broken down, major differences appear between the supporters of the various parties.

Among the voters of the Environment Party and the Left Party, 95 per cent believe that the climate is an acute issue, while only 37 per cent of the voters of the Swedish Democrats think so. SD is, by the way, the only party where more of the voters think the issue is not urgent, 45 percent. All other parties have a majority of their voters who define climate change as acute.

Also interesting in the survey is that a clear majority of voters, 62 percent, do not think that politicians treat the issue as an urgent matter.

The greater the support among a party's supporters about the issue being acute, the greater the dissatisfaction with the decisions the policy delivers. Among the supporters of the Environment Party and the Left Party, only 4 per cent believe that politicians act as if climate change is acute, while 40 per cent of the voters of the Swedish Democrats think so.

In all parties, however, there is a clear overweight among those who believe that politicians do not act as if the climate is an acute issue. This view can be based both on the notion that too little is being done, but also that wrong things are being done. This debate is often conducted in Swedish politics where parties accuse each other of pursuing an insufficient policy, or a policy based on symbolic measures of no great importance to the climate.

No matter what, it is a problem when so many voters perceive that politics does not deliver in an area that voters point out as urgent. This should be appropriate for both government and opposition. The consequence would otherwise be undermined confidence in the political system's ability to solve important societal problems.

But despite the fact that 68 percent think the situation is urgent, the environmental and climate issue does not come first in a shared fifth place when the voters in Novus state the most important political issues. Here, the environment and climate clearly end up with issues such as health care, immigration / integration and law and order.

One explanation may be that voters perceive the climate as a global issue where decisions by Swedish politicians have only a limited opportunity to influence emissions in the world.

The parties' position on the climate issue is also interesting. The environmental party is the party that most clearly profiled itself on this issue and also the parliamentary party that has the greatest confidence among voters in the climate and environmental issue.

But despite the climate issue's great importance in the political debate and that 22 percent of voters believe that the Environmental Party has the best environment and politics, the Environmental Party is still the smallest party in Parliament with only 4.4 percent of the votes.

One explanation may be that the climate issue is perceived as acute by voters, but that the issue nevertheless does not decide which party you vote for. Another is that the confidence in the Environmental Party is so low that voters do not believe that the party is able to push the issue.

Domestic politics also dominate other issues right now, not least the immigration and integration issue and law and order. In both of these issues, the Environment Party has a weak position among voters.

At the same time, the climate issue contains another complicating factor for politicians. Although voters call for action by politicians, it is not obvious that voters like the concrete proposals that are well presented. The environmental and energy taxes, not least the petrol tax, are always controversial issues.

Politicians' fear of clashing with public opinion is clearly illustrated in the government's budget, where the new co-operation coalition succeeded with the art piece to make it appear that both raising and lowering the petrol tax. The proposal was basically incomprehensible to every layman, but allowed the Environment Party to tell its voters that they would raise the gas tax, while the Center Party tried to calm the rural residents by reducing the tax.

That 62 percent of voters think that politicians do not treat the climate issue as an acute issue is perhaps not strange, after all.