SNS gained prominence and became the largest opposition party due to their anti-corruption platform and the protests in 2011 at which they demanded early elections.

SNS was later faced with protests from 2018 to 2020 and gained a supermajority of seats in the National Assembly of Serbia after the 2020 election which was boycotted by most opposition parties.

Critics have assessed that after it came to power, Serbia has suffered from democratic backsliding into authoritarianism, as well as a decline in media freedom and civil liberties.

[16][17][18][19] In November 2008, SNS called for snap parliamentary elections to be held by October 2009;[20] this proposal was also later supported by Čedomir Jovanović, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

[32] After March 2010, SNS claimed that DS "was pulling the country into a deep crisis", and that in response it would organise anti-government protests in Belgrade.

[54][55] In January 2012, it was confirmed that SNS would take part in a joint parliamentary list together with NS, PS, PSS, and eight minor parties and associations.

[63][64] Nikolić accused DS of vote fraud; during a press conference he showed a bag with about three thousand ballots that were allegedly thrown into a trash can.

[104][105]: 4  A United States Agency for International Development (USAID) report noted that the SNS now had "complete political dominance" due to the status of Vučić as prime minister.

[113][114] The project previously received criticism, with Milan Nešić, a Radio Free Europe journalist, describing it as a "pre-election trick".

[99][117] Freedom House criticised the SNS-led government by stating that it displayed "a sharp intolerance for any kind of criticism either from opposition parties, independent media, civil society, or even ordinary citizens".

[127] During the campaign, SNS expressed its support for the European Union and military neutrality, while maintaining cooperation with NATO, and ensuring economic reforms and a Western-type economy.

[146] Vučić received support from the coalition partners of SNS, and SPS, Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMSZ), and United Serbia (JS).

[149] Robert Creamer, an American political consultant, criticised him and stated that "Vučić would be in a position to select a prime minister of his choice, [and] control the judiciary, and the election apparatus — eliminating all checks and balances in the Serbian government".

[178] SNS announced in February 2020 that it would take part under the "For Our Children" banner in the 2020 parliamentary election, stating that more than 50 percent of its ballot list would be comprised young people.

[184][185] Freedom House labelled Serbia as a hybrid regime in May 2020, citing alleged "increased state capture, abuse of power, and terror tactics" by Vučić.

[210][211][212] Dialogues to improve election conditions between government and opposition parties, in which SNS took part, began in May 2021 and lasted until late October 2021.

[294] After a group of students were physically attacked in Novi Sad by the party activists, Vučević tendered his resignation from office on 28 January 2025.

[300]: 189  Jovan Teokarević, an associate professor at the Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences, described their ideological orientation as a "complete u-turn" in comparison with the Serbian Radical Party (SRS).

[301] Bojana Barlovac, a Balkan Insight journalist, stated that SNS "became much closer to DS on its policy profile", although in 2013, she described the party as conservative.

[320][321] Political scientists Đorđe Pavićević and Boban Stojanović, journalist Ivan Radovanović, and authors Aleksandar Marinković and Novak Gajić also described SNS as a catch-all party.

[315] Journalist Vuk Jeremić described SNS as a centrist party that includes elements from the left and the right that are "all packaged in a populist form" (sve upakovano u populistički pitku formu).

[332][333] Sociologist Jovo Bakić described SNS as a "pragmatically re-profiled" and moderately conservative party, and compared its development to Gianfranco Fini's projects in Italy.

[313]: 71 SNS is economically neoliberal,[313]: 138 [341][342][343] and it advocates for austerity, market economy reforms, privatisation, reduced spending, and liberalisation of labour laws.

[346]: 14  Since coming to power in 2012, observers have assessed that Serbia has suffered from democratic backsliding into authoritarianism,[347][348] followed by a decline in media freedom and civil liberties.

[355] In July 2023, 14,310 Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts that praised the SNS, Vučić, and the government and criticised the opposition were leaked to the public, including their full names and places of origins.

[362] Additionally, it reported that internet portals close to the government that "manipulate facts and slander independent media" continued to receive public funds on state and local levels.

[91]: 544  Dragan Đukanović, a Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences professor, noted that SNS received support from the U.S. and European Union due to its pro-European agenda.

[372] Sonja Biserko, a human rights activist, argued in 2013 that SNS declaratively adopted the agenda of DS and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) regarding the views on the European Union.

[387] According to the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) in 2012, a majority of SNS supporters were male, primary or high school educated, workers', technicians, and dependents, while they had a widespread age structure.

[407] In the same year, SNS received support from the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) due to the establishment of the Brussels Agreement.