Anti-immigration Sweden Democrats rise to 20 percent in major opinion poll

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats would get nearly 20 percent of the vote if an election were held now, a poll showed on Tuesday as the country struggles to cope with a record number of asylum seekers. The twice yearly poll by the Statistics Office showed the Sweden Democrats would get 19.9 percent of the votes up from 14.4 in the previous poll in May. The party doubled their support in the 2014 general election leaving them holding the balance of power in parliament. The telephone poll of 9,021 people over the period Nov. 2 to 25 showed the Social Democrat-Green government losing support, dropping to 33.5 percent from 36.6 percent in May. Support for the four party, centre-right Alliance fell to 39.0 percent from 40.6 percent. (Reporting by Johan Sennero; Editing by Simon Johnson)