Record for Swedish Crown Princess Victoria

Political leaders such as Barack Obama and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt may be popular among Swedes. However, they are not as popular as Swedish Crown Princess Victoria, according to the results of the latest SOM survey - University of Gothenburg, Sweden - which were presented Tuesday during the seminar Focus on the Leaders.

Although Swedes' confidence in the Swedish Royal Court is at a record low, it turns out that Crown Princess Victoria is the most popular of all royalties included in the survey.

'The popularity of the crown princess is actually the strongest for a public person that we have ever found,' says Docent/Reader Lennart Nilsson from the SOM Institute.

King Carl XVI Gustav is less popular than his daughter, but can enjoy the same level of popularity as the most popular Swedish political leader – Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt – and other Nordic heads of state.

Fredrik Reinfeldt is the most widely recognised Swedish political leader – 99 percent indicated that they know who he is. Then follow Maud Olofsson from the Centre Party at 98 percent and the former leaders of the Left Party and the Social Democrats – Lars Ohly and Håkan Juholt – at 97 percent.

The least well-known political leaders are Anna Troberg from the Swedish Pirate Party at 34 percent, the new leader of the Left Party Jonas Sjöstedt at 57 percent and the Green Party's Åsa Romson at 61 percent.

Looking at the popularity of Swedish political leaders, we find the Green Party's Gustav Fridolin and the Centre Party's Annie Lööf placed immediately behind Fredrik Reinfeldt, who again tops the list. Jimmie Åkesson from the Swedish Democrats, Lars Ohly from the Left Party and Anna Troberg from the Swedish Pirate Party are found at the other end of the same list, which was compiled in the autumn of 2011.

Swedes seem to be less familiar with EU leaders. For example, only one-third know who Herman van Rompuy (President of the European Council) and Catherine Ashton (EU's 'minister for foreign affairs') are, despite the fact that they have held two of the heaviest EU positions for the last two years.

Heads of state seem to be more widely known than EU and UN politicians, which in a way is surprising considering the fact that both organisations have far-reaching effects on Swedish politics.

People's private sphere is generally headed by females, as they tend to be in charge of most domestic tasks. According to the survey results, women feel that they carry a much heavier total responsibility in the household, including for cleaning, cooking and household shopping.

The responsibility taken for children is the most equally divided, as 58 percent of the respondents indicated that it is shared equally. However, there are clear gender differences in the responses – two-thirds of the male respondents feel that this responsibility is shared equally, whereas only half of the females do.

Home maintenance and repairs is the area with the highest level of inequality. Only one in five responded that the work is shared equally, and this is also the only area where males claimed to carry the main responsibility.