Supporters of Germany’s Alliance 90/The Greens are the most likely among the country’s main political groups to say they become annoyed when confronted with opinions that differ from their own.
The poll, conducted by the Allensbach Institute for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, asked respondents whether they are often annoyed by people who hold completely different political views or whether they usually have no problem with it.
According to the results published on April 17, 28 per cent of Greens voters said they are often annoyed by differing opinions, the highest figure recorded among the main party electorates.
That compared with 24 per cent of Alternative for Germany (AfD) supporters, 19 per cent of Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) voters and 18 per cent of Social Democratic Party (SPD) voters. The national average stood at 21 per cent.
The survey, carried out between March 23 and April 9, 2026, among 1,057 respondents representative of the German population aged 16 and over, also suggested that people with higher levels of education were not necessarily more open to dissenting views, despite commonly held assumptions to the contrary.
As with other polls of this size, the margin of error is several percentage points, meaning the findings point more to a broader social pattern than to an exact measurement of party-political temperament.
The Allensbach study formed part of a broader examination of listening habits and communication in German society.
While two-thirds of respondents described themselves as good listeners and 80 per cent said listening was part of a respectful relationship, the poll pointed to a clear gap between self-perception and behaviour.
Among those who considered themselves good listeners, one in four still admitted it was sometimes difficult to listen patiently and refrain from voicing their own opinion.
A majority of respondents — 57 per cent — said there was at least one person in their family or circle of friends with whom they believed it made no sense to discuss political topics because opinions were simply too far apart.
The survey also found that offline circles of friends tended to be more politically homogeneous than people’s digital networks on social media.
Heavy users of social media were also more likely to report difficulties listening patiently or avoiding interruptions when others were speaking.
The findings come amid broader concern in Germany, as elsewhere in Europe, about political polarisation, shrinking common ground and a declining willingness to engage seriously with opposing views.
Even so, the poll suggested that most people still maintained personal contact across political divides, indicating that social relationships have not yet broken down as sharply as public debate might suggest.
A man in Bavaria had his house raided by police after retweeting a meme mocking German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens party. https://t.co/pRdkEZl45k
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 14, 2024
