With Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen making a bid for European office, domestic eyes are focusing on his lieutenant, Lars Løkke Rasmussen

Their surnames might be the same, but for voters there is a world of difference between current Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and a potential Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

Voters believe that if Prime Minister Rasmussen, voted to his third term as PM in 2007, becomes Nato secretary general Liberal Party would lose considerable support, according to both a Gallup poll and an LO/Zapera survey.

The PM appears to be close to being nominated for the Nato job during the alliance’s summit in April. If the PM were to leave for Nato, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the finance minister, and the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, would take over as prime minister.

But the Gallup poll showed that if that happened, the Liberals, parliament’s largest party, would fall from 24 percent voter support to 17 percent. That would place an opposition made up of the Social Democrats, the Socialist People’s Party and the Social Liberals firmly in the majority.

Over two-thirds of those who stated they would not re-vote for the Liberal Party did so either directly or indirectly due to the finance minister. Over one-third said their decision was due to the recent tax package, in which Løkke Rasmussen played a key negotiating role. Another third believed the minister would simply make a poor PM.

Løkke Rasmussen has had some bad press over the past year or so as a result of alleged questionable expenses. He reportedly charged a 60,000 kroner weekend in Rome to taxpayers and also used 240,000 kroner on taxis during his time as mayor of Frederiksborg County.

Early this year, it was discovered that he and another politician had drunk 20 schnapps and five beers at a business lunch in 2004 that cost taxpayers over 1000 kroner.

Løkke Rasmussen’s relaxed character is in stark contrast to that of Fogh Rasmsussen, who reportedly rarely drinks alcohol and who rarely appears in public not wearing a shirt and tie. One exception is when he is seen jogging, another contrast to Løkke Rasmussen, a smoker.

But Inger Støjberg, the Liberal political spokeswoman, said she believed voters would stick with the party if Løkke Rasmussen took the government reigns.

In another poll conducted by YouGov Zapera/Mandag Morgen that addressed the possibility the PM might be nominated to Nato secretary general, 41 percent of voters believed inequality in Denmark would increase under Løkke Rasmussen.

A similar number also believed the government would be less environmentally conscious under a Prime Minister Løkke Rasmussen and would continue working closely with its ally, the right-of-centre Danish People’s Party.

Should Løkke Rasmussen become prime minister, he would be the third consecutive prime minister to bear that surname. Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen held the office from 1993 to 2001.