The question was asked by a male audience member during one of the Prime Minister's hearings during the election campaign.
He remembers a politician from Aalborg with a glow in his eyes who gave fiery speeches on milk crates.
"I've missed that for the last three years," he says.
As a young politician, Frederiksen was considered a red radical force who, among other things, fought for an expanded guaranteed pension.
Now she stands in Politiken's book hall with her hair tied up in a tight knot and preparing a response to the audience.
Historically low
The Social Democrats are still Denmark's largest party, but support has plummeted from 27.5 percent in the 2022 election to 20 percent in recent polls, which is historically low.
According to political scientist Rune Stubager, this is mainly due to Frederiksen's choice to form a government with two bourgeois parties.
The majority of voters have moved left, he says.
Discontent grew at the end of 2022 when the center-right government abolished the "Great Day of Prayer" holiday to finance defense. The decision angered the trade union movement:
"There are a number of other things, the retirement age for example, where we don't think the current government has done enough," says Henrik Bay-Clausen, local chairman of Denmark's largest union 3F.
International respect
While her voter base is faltering, Frederiksen has gained international respect for spearheading increased support for Ukraine and her leadership in the Greenland crisis.
But as soon as she was elected Prime Minister in 2019, social democrats across Europe began to turn their attention to one of the EU's smaller countries.
They understood early on that they had to tackle the immigration issue and make it a non-issue to stop fringe parties from taking votes from the labor movement, says Stubager.
Wealth tax
Now the Social Democrats are trying to revive the recipe for success. The party is going into the election on a wealth tax and even stricter migration policy, but it doesn't look like it will be enough to reverse the downward trend.
Nevertheless, Stubager points to Frederiksen as the most likely government leader even after Tuesday's election.
In the bookstore, Frederiksen admits that collaborations require sacrifices.
- But if we go back to the milk crate, I think I'm the same person. I have the same energy and intentions, but there's a different seriousness today.
On Tuesday, March 24, Denmark will hold parliamentary elections.
The current center-right government, consisting of the Social Democrats (S), the Liberals (V) and the Moderates (M), has lost approximately 14 percentage points since the 2022 election.
During the ongoing election campaign, both S and V have claimed the post of prime minister.
According to the latest polls, the red bloc is slightly larger than the blue bloc, but it looks like it will be even, and no side looks like it will be able to get a majority without M.
If the red bloc becomes the largest, current Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) has a good chance of becoming prime minister again and choosing whether she wants to form a red government or a new center-right government.
If the blue bloc, including M, becomes the largest, it is an advantage for Lars Løkke Rasmussen (M) because he would become the kingmaker.
Løkke has ruled out collaborating with the Danish People's Party and has instead advocated a new center-right government that would most likely include the Social Democrats.
Sources: Danmarks Radio, Ritzau and Rune Stubager, professor of political science at Aarhus University.
