While many analyses of Germany have tended to focus on East versus West, an equally telling divide has become evident between young people and their older compatriots.
Brandenburg’s State election of September 22 had Socialists (SPD) ending on top, with around 31 per cent of the vote, followed closely by the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on about 30 per cent.
A marked age gap among the electorate has been revealed in a breakdown of the respective results.
Younger and first-time voters overwhelmingly preferred AfD. Around one-third of 16-to 26-year-olds voted for the AfD, while all other parties trailed behind. In this case, the Socialists only won 19 per cent of the vote. The same was true among 25-to-34-year-olds.
Within the 45-to-59 age range, SPD did better, scoring 29 per cent of the vote, although the AfD still lead with 32 per cent.
That changed among 60-to 69-year-olds, where SPD tallied 35 per cent, rising to 49 per cent of 70-year-olds and above.
The data has led to AfD co-chair Alice Weidel stating: “The SPD is above all a pensioners’ party.”
Mary Kahn, a newly elected MEP for the AfD, who was born in 1994, told Brussels Signal she was more than happy with her party’s success in Brandenburg, calling it “a historic result and a signal for the federal elections in 2025”.
She said the AfD was “the party of the future”.
“It’s also clear to see that young people are rejecting Green and Left politics,” Khan added.
“Having experienced the disastrous impact of mass migration, the costly pursuit of renewable energy and the crazy LGBT agenda, it can hardly come as a surprise.
“The AfD stands for prosperity, security and peace. Unlike other parties, we offer young people the opportunity to reconnect and embrace their cultural and historical roots. We are the only patriotic party who are proud to be German and proud to prioritise the needs of the German people.
“That’s why it’s clear for many young people that if they want positive change, they have to vote for the AfD,” she said.
COMMENT: Eastern Germany’s Gen Z is moving towards either the anti-establishment Right or the anti-establishment Left, but they are done with the traditional parties, writes @Raphfel. https://t.co/OXFJIKcH0A
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 2, 2024
Researchers have pointed out that younger voters and older voters seem to operate in differing realities, with life experiences and media consumption not the same.
German youth, seeing an influx of migrants in recent years, seem much less positive about the current demographic shift and accompanying societal changes. The bulk of their media consumption is online, including TikTok, Twitter and “reels” sent to each other.
Following the latest State elections, teachers’ associations have called for improved media education for students and teachers, claiming: “Social media often favour extremes.”
Free Democratic Party (FDP) leader Christian Lindner claimed young people no longer cared for climate,but were concerned with economic security and “the feeling that you can no longer openly say what you think”.
Psychologist Rüdiger Maas at the Institute for Generational Research recently told newspaper Die Welt, that Germany’s younger people “experience the influx of migrants much more directly than older people because they often share the same rooms with the refugees, in the outdoor pool, when they go out or at school”.
“The attacks of the last few weeks have also fuelled fears,” he added, referring to, among other assaults, a deadly stabbing spree linked to Islamic State in late August.
Neglecting young people during the Covid pandemic seemingly in favour of the older generation was also cited as a reason for the youth element’s electoral preferences.
In 2011 it was the SPD, the hard left Die Linke Party and the Greens who had changed the Brandenburg State Constitution and lowered the voting age to 16, apparently assuming they had that vote in their pockets.
An evangelical church in Germany has removed one of its members from all of his leadership roles as a result of his links to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. https://t.co/lLDX4NSGVs
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 22, 2024
