Field Notes

source

Swedish voting behavior 1956-2022

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Henrik Oscarsson, Sören Holmberg, and Richard Karlsson’s 2026 report compiles tables from the Swedish National Election Studies. The local report covers voting behaviour from 1956 through 2022 and official turnout from 1921 onward.

The class-voting series documents a large narrowing of the socialist vote gap between workers and the middle class. In 1956, 73 percent of workers and 22 percent of the middle class voted for the Left Party or Social Democrats, a 51-point gap. In 2022, the corresponding values were 51 and 36 percent, a 15-point gap. This establishes class dealignment but does not identify the contribution of birth-cohort movement.

The report’s Figure 29 carries the full series, reproduced here from its printed data labels:

{
  "data": {"values": [
    {"election": "1956", "group": "working class", "percent": 73},
    {"election": "1960", "group": "working class", "percent": 79},
    {"election": "1964", "group": "working class", "percent": 75},
    {"election": "1968", "group": "working class", "percent": 72},
    {"election": "1970", "group": "working class", "percent": 66},
    {"election": "1973", "group": "working class", "percent": 70},
    {"election": "1976", "group": "working class", "percent": 65},
    {"election": "1979", "group": "working class", "percent": 67},
    {"election": "1982", "group": "working class", "percent": 70},
    {"election": "1985", "group": "working class", "percent": 69},
    {"election": "1988", "group": "working class", "percent": 66},
    {"election": "1991", "group": "working class", "percent": 57},
    {"election": "1994", "group": "working class", "percent": 70},
    {"election": "1998", "group": "working class", "percent": 67},
    {"election": "2002", "group": "working class", "percent": 66},
    {"election": "2006", "group": "working class", "percent": 58},
    {"election": "2010", "group": "working class", "percent": 52},
    {"election": "2014", "group": "working class", "percent": 51},
    {"election": "2018", "group": "working class", "percent": 47},
    {"election": "2022", "group": "working class", "percent": 51},
    {"election": "1956", "group": "middle class", "percent": 22},
    {"election": "1960", "group": "middle class", "percent": 26},
    {"election": "1964", "group": "middle class", "percent": 29},
    {"election": "1968", "group": "middle class", "percent": 32},
    {"election": "1970", "group": "middle class", "percent": 30},
    {"election": "1973", "group": "middle class", "percent": 28},
    {"election": "1976", "group": "middle class", "percent": 31},
    {"election": "1979", "group": "middle class", "percent": 31},
    {"election": "1982", "group": "middle class", "percent": 35},
    {"election": "1985", "group": "middle class", "percent": 35},
    {"election": "1988", "group": "middle class", "percent": 37},
    {"election": "1991", "group": "middle class", "percent": 32},
    {"election": "1994", "group": "middle class", "percent": 41},
    {"election": "1998", "group": "middle class", "percent": 38},
    {"election": "2002", "group": "middle class", "percent": 39},
    {"election": "2006", "group": "middle class", "percent": 33},
    {"election": "2010", "group": "middle class", "percent": 29},
    {"election": "2014", "group": "middle class", "percent": 33},
    {"election": "2018", "group": "middle class", "percent": 34},
    {"election": "2022", "group": "middle class", "percent": 36}
  ]},
  "width": 480,
  "mark": {"type": "line", "point": true, "tooltip": true},
  "encoding": {
    "x": {"field": "election", "type": "ordinal", "title": "Election"},
    "y": {
      "field": "percent",
      "type": "quantitative",
      "title": "Voting socialist (percent)",
      "scale": {"domain": [0, 100]}
    },
    "color": {"field": "group", "sort": null, "title": null}
  }
}

The series converge from both directions: workers’ socialist support erodes unevenly, with sharp drops in 1991 and from 2006 onward, while middle-class socialist support drifts upward from the 1950s base. The report’s printed Alford index differs by a point or two in some years from the difference between these rounded labels because it is computed from unrounded, oversampling-corrected values.

The report’s age table also resists a simple cohort chronology. Social Democratic support was usually strongest among older voters from 1979 onward, whereas the strongest age group for the Moderates varied among young, middle-aged, old, and no clear difference. Each election compares age groups at one time; the table does not follow fyrtiotalister longitudinally.

The underlying SNES series was conducted by Statistics Sweden and the University of Gothenburg at every parliamentary election since 1956. Researchers can request the deposited survey data through the Swedish National Data Service. The report is therefore a direct descriptive source for Boomers and democracy, not a causal test of Moving cohort capture.

Built on 3 sources (1 archived here, 2 external).

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