(Bloomberg) -- Support for the nationalist Sweden Democrats and the Social Democrats is almost equal for the first time in an Expressen/Demoskop poll, adding to Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's burden as he steers his minority government.
His Social Democrats, the largest political party in Sweden for most of the past century, have lost voters to anti-immigration party Sweden Democrats, the survey showed.
"The result stands out," Demoskop spokesman Peter Santesson told Expressen. "The loss of voters to the Sweden Democrats is the main reason for the decline in support for the Social Democrats".
Recent shootings and gang violence may be the reason for the rising concern and frustration among voters, Social Democrats spokeswoman Lena Radstrom Baastad told Expressen.
Support for the Social Democrats declined by 0.9 percentage point from a month earlier to 23.1%, while the Sweden Democrats gained 1.5 percentage point to 22.9%. The other parties saw marginal changes.
To contact the reporter on this story: Veronica Ek in Stockholm at vek@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edith Moy at echan10@bloomberg.net, Jonas Bergman
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