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   From: darnell@fomoco.com   
      
   Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has one person to thank for   
   rescuing her from a looming political abyss: U.S. President Donald   
   Trump.   
      
   Frederiksen’s party has seen a dramatic surge in poll ratings through   
   January — just months after awful results in last year’s local elections   
   — as it launched a vehement defense of Denmark’s sovereignty against   
   Trump’s aggressive threats to annex Greenland.   
      
   “After a long time, they have finally drawn a clear line instead of   
   appearing submissive,” said Per Clausen, a left-wing Danish MEP from the   
   opposition Enhedslisten party, who credited the change in approach with   
   driving a leap in voter support.   
      
   The phenomenon is not unique to Denmark. In elections from Canada to   
   Australia, standing up to Trump has become electoral rocket fuel, as   
   leaders who frame themselves as defenders of national sovereignty and   
   liberal democracy are being rewarded by voters eager for pushback   
   against the U.S. president.   
      
   Frederiksen’s center-left party — which governs in a coalition with the   
   center-right Moderates and Venstre parties — netted 22.7 percent of the   
   vote and 41 parliament seats in a new poll by Megafon, a reputable   
   Danish consultancy, conducted from Jan. 20 to 22 among 1,012 Danes.   
   That’s a sharp upswing from the last poll by Megafon in early December,   
   which showed Frederiksen’s party winning just 32 seats.   
      
   The Social Democrats currently hold 50 seats out of 179, and the latest   
   polls show that it would still be the largest party in parliament with   
   41 seats, putting them back in pole position to lead coalition talks,   
   but leaving them dependent on partners to maintain power.   
      
   The uptick in support is even more notable given that the Social   
   Democrats suffered a terrible result in municipal elections in November,   
   which saw Frederiksen’s party lose Copenhagen, a symbolically important   
   seat, for the first time in 100 years.   
      
   The Moderates, led by Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen,   
   nearly tripled its vote share in the poll from 2.2 percent to 6.4   
   percent, equal to about 12 seats. Another poll published Monday by the   
   research institute Voxmeter for Danish news agency Ritzau showed support   
   for Frederiksen’s Cabinet at 40.9 percent, the highest in two years. If   
   an election were held now, the coalition would be forecast to win 73   
   seats.   
      
   That would still leave them 17 seats short of the 90 needed for a   
   majority and needing to negotiate with other parties — but is far from   
   what just months ago looked like an imminent wipeout.   
      
   Rally around the flag   
   Since then, the world — and Danish politics — has changed dramatically.   
   Trump said in early January that he would seize Greenland, a self-ruling   
   Danish territory in the Arctic, by any means necessary, an oft-repeated   
   threat that took on new menace after the American capture of Venezuelan   
   leader Nicolás Maduro.   
      
   Frederiksen, who has been in power since 2019, has mounted a spirited   
   diplomatic defense of the Arctic island, successfully repelling Trump’s   
   advances for now.   
      
   And, according to the polls, Danes have rallied around her.   
      
   https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-saved-mette-frederiksen-from   
   -electoral-oblivion/   
      
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