When the troublesome little brother is just as big – VG

Poor three percentage points separate the three largest parties in the latest Respons Analysis survey for VG. Only one of them has reason to be happy.

At 22 percent, the Labor Party is the largest, but in return it is little consolation. They have to go back several years to find an equally weak measure. The right continues with a real starburst and is down to 21.6. The Center Party, on the other hand, ranks historically high at 18.9 percent. Considering that Respons rarely has the strongest effects, this is surprising.

However, they are almost identical to what the national average was in all national opinion polls at the polls exactly one year ago. Does this mean that the policy is normalized?

Because there are no external circumstances to explain Sp’s progress now. Both the country and the political debate continue to be dominated by covid-19, a case in which Sp has very little participation. Both concerns about health, unemployment and the economy should be winners for the Labor Party and the Conservative Party.

The poll indicates that the strong position of the Conservatives is deteriorating. The right seeps into almost all parties, and especially Sp.

Although people are apparently loyal to the authorities and jump when Erna Solberg and Bent Høie say they jump, they no longer have the same authority. There is also another climate for criticizing the government. You won’t necessarily cut your head off if you ask questions about infection control strategy or tips. They also do not have such good control of communication.

The Health Minister accused NRK host Fredrik Solvang of creating confusion, but he should go alone. It is not the case that the more press conferences and intricate calculations about close contacts, the better. Simple is usually best.

Whether the Center Party wins remains the great mystery. There are no issues of district political conflict or reform dominating the news image now. Nor can anyone say that the two not-so-large parties have not taken the SP’s advances seriously.

The Labor Party has done little more than come up with a new district policy in recent weeks. Conservatives have tempered their quest to “centralize everything they see,” as Trygve Slagsvold Vedum might put it, and have armed themselves with their own district minister. But so far in vain: to compete in that half of the field, probably only the Center Party benefits. Of course, this does not mean that for other reasons it may be correct to do so.

Frp may, however, see good progress and is no longer leaking to Sp. They have focused on cases where Sp can be accused of stealing FRP clothing, such as diesel and weather taxes. Perhaps Siv Jensen was not so stupid in accepting a slightly embarrassing deal with “Ulve-Audun” and “Bompenge-Lan” at the national meeting.

However, the general picture is that the People’s Socialist Party has managed to move the party from being a special interests party to a kind of popular party. It is of little help to the party to gain 100 per cent support in Høylandet and Holtålen. It doesn’t make much sense to make it strong in areas where there are pigs. The last most notable election was how the party grew stronger in the medium-sized cities. Now the big coups are taking place in the big cities, and they may even get a parliamentary representative from Oslo. It means a lot to general support.

Before, you would get strange looks and questions about whether you were from the farm if you voted for the Center Party in the capital. You had to have a reason to vote for them. Now it looks more and more like a party to most people, regardless of whether they live in Gudbrandsdalen or Groruddalen.