Gov't Popularity Slides As COVID Measures, Energy Prices Hit Support

Support for the minority coalition gov't of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store has declined further in the first opinion poll of 2022, with the opposition centre-right Conservative Party maintaining its position as the most popular party nationwide.

• Norstat poll: Conservative: 25% (+2), Labour: 21% (-2), Progress Party: 13% (+1), Centre Party: 9% (-1), Socialist Left: 9%, Red Party: 6% (-2), Liberals: 5%, Greens: 3% (-1), Christian Democrats: 3% (-1). +/- vs. 14-20 December 2021. Fieldwork: 27 December 2021 - 3 January 2022. Sample size: 943
• Support for Store's centre-left Labour Party is down from 26.3% in the September 2021 general election, while that of its junior coalition partner, the agrarian Centre Party, is down from 13.5%. Both declines sit outside the margin of error, showing that the reduced support is unlikely to be due to a statistical anomaly.
• The gov't, which holds 76 seats in the 169-seat Storting, has seen its support dwindle more rapidly than would usually be the case following an election win.
  • The imposition of stricter COVID restrictions due to the Omicron variant over the Christmas period was hugely unpopular with some sections of society.
  • Norwegians are being hit by major spikes in energy prices resutling in a doubling or even tripling in energy bills.
  • The impact of a late-2021 scandal surroinding various benefit payments made to politicians continues to impact trust in gov't officials. The scandal claimed the scalp of President of the Parliament, Labour's Eva Kristin Hansen in November, and has also tainted the Centre Party's brand.