The Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson was, like many other Swedish politicians and party strategists, present in the USA during the election campaign. She praised the Democratic presidential candidate for her humor and called her warm but tough.
About a week after Harris's election loss, it's now more about drawing lessons from what went wrong. In background conversations and interviews, most people highlight that Harris should have focused more on concrete proposals for ordinary people struggling with the economy. Less on opponent Donald Trump, threats to democracy, and minority rights.
As long as you don't have the opportunity to pay your bills at the end of the month, questions about democracy or abortion rights won't beat those questions, says Ida Karkiainen, Member of Parliament and one of the main authors of the Social Democratic Party's election analysis after the 2022 election.
"Don't vote for the good ones"
Even in the final stretch of the Swedish election campaign, pocketbook issues dominated. Already then, the youth association SSU was critical of the Social Democratic Party for focusing too much on opponents, particularly the Sweden Democrats. The criticism is reminiscent of the one Harris is receiving now.
We don't need to remind people that the Sweden Democrats are not a party like others, they already know that and it doesn't matter. They vote for them anyway, says Lisa Nåbo.
People don't vote for the good ones, but for those who can offer the best answer to their own problems. We get stuck in what the right-wing does badly, instead of talking about what we want.
Let go of the ball
The SSU hopes that the Social Democratic Party will not focus on the Sweden Democrats or the other Tidö parties in the 2026 election campaign.
My impression is that there is a very large part of the party that really wants us to let go of the ball and have more confidence in our own proposals, says Nåbo.
Ida Karkiainen is on the same track.
A lesson from the American election is that it's not enough to go to the election on being against something, another party or Trump, for example. But you must also fill it with your own agenda and your own policy, she says.
