Damned if you do, damned if you don’t?

Regeringar, väljare och kriser

Abstract

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t? Governments, voters and crises

What can we expect in terms of electoral consequences of the corona pandemic? When taking stock of previous crisis research we have to be cautious, as the corona pandemic crisis is unique in the sense that it combines extremely long-lasting health issues with enormously far-reaching economic, social and knock-on health consequences. The main findings suggested by the crisis discourse indicate that primarily, voters look back and punish governments. However, the straw to clutch by central governments is that voters might, in fact, reward those who have really gone the extra mile to alleviate economic hardships for the voters. Whether at the September 2022 general election this is what the Swedish voters will remember or the high covid-19 death figures is still a moot point.