The Danish People’s Party (DPP) has seen its popularity rise so much that it is now more popular than the governing Social Democrats, a recent poll has revealed.
According to pollster Wilke, the Social Democrats party has seen its support fall to just 18.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the anti-immigration DPP has developed into Denmark’s most popular political group with 19.5 per cent of people surveyed saying they would be voting for the party in the next elections.
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s ruling Social Democrats have been in power since 2011, when they won the election with 24.8 per cent of the votes. The DPP only won 12.3 per cent of the votes back then.
Analysts claim the Social Democrats have suffered a drop in popularity because of social benefit cuts they introduced. Many were also angered by the government’s decision to sell utilities company DONG Energy to Goldman Sachs last year. The DPP initially supported the sale of DONG but when it was clear the public was not backing it, changed its stance.
For the past decade, the DPP has wanted to government to introduce more stringent immigration policies to, in turn, receive the party’s backing.
Social Democrat members, however, have said voters will not support the DPP if it implements populist policies.
Immigrants in the Scandinavian country have faced mounting problems with discrimination and racism, with regulations making it tough for them to follow up such incidents in court.