Rudeness and vulgarity in politics undermine the public's trust in their political leaders and increase the risk of voter abstention, a report by Swedish researchers published on Tuesday said.

The report was written by two researchers at Karolinska Institute specialising in stress and working conditions, Dan Hansson and Karin Villaume, and commissioned by Swedish white-collar trade union TCO.

"Incivility in politics is a major problem and the situation is getting worse, which could ultimately pose a threat to democracy," they wrote in their report, which was based on international studies.

"At the same time, there is strong demand for politeness in politics."

Three out of four people in Sweden said they were concerned about the tone of exchanges in political debates, according to a February 2026 poll by the Novus institute, cited in the report. 

One in two said they no longer follow political debates because of the overly aggressive tone, and the same number said a more courteous tone would make them more inclined to follow debates.

The issue is a timely one in Sweden, where legislative elections are scheduled for September 13. 

In November, former Centre Party leader Anna-Karin Hatt resigned after just five months after receiving a series of threats, sparking strong reactions in the Scandinavian country. 

She said she no longer felt safe carrying out the role. 

According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, 25.4 percent of elected officials said they had "been victims of some form of threat or harassment, or of violence, vandalism or theft" in 2024. 

The media's role and responsibility was raised on Tuesday during the presentation of the report. 

Hanna Olsson Berg, deputy editor-in-chief of the daily Aftonbladet, called for a revamp of media formats and a renewed emphasis on longer-form content.

She cited the example of a video that had been hugely successful on social media and with the public.

In it, Development Cooperation Minister Benjamin Dousa, of the right-wing Moderate Party, and prominent opposition figure Lawen Redar, the Social Democratic spokesperson on integration, sat in a car driving them through the suburbs of Stockholm, including the disadvantaged neighbourhoods they come from.

There, they pointed out sites from their childhoods and debated politics in a courteous tone, without mockery or insults.

© Agence France-Presse