cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16523136
Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote in the European elections, with particular support in the east
Paul Friedrich, 16, could not wait to cast his first ballot and had no doubt which German party had earned his support in the watershed European elections.
“Correct, I voted AfD,” he said proudly in the bustle of the commuter railway station in Brandenburg an der Havel, an hour from central Berlin.
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland made particularly stunning gains on Sunday among young voters. For the first time in a national poll, 16- and 17-year-olds could cast their ballots – a reform that had been strongly backed by left-leaning parties.
After overwhelmingly supporting the Greens five years ago, Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote – an 11-point rise – helping place the party second behind the opposition CDU-CSU conservatives and well ahead of the Social Democrats of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
The AfD tapped deep wells of support in the former communist east, winning in every state including Brandenburg, where it claimed 27.5% of the vote.
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And his concerns echo those of many teenagers and twentysomethings in town: fears of war spreading in Europe, inflation, economic decline, “unchecked” immigration and, above all, violent crime, which they say is rampant when they use public transport or hang out in public spaces at night.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
After overwhelmingly supporting the Greens five years ago, Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote – an 11-point rise – helping place the party second behind the opposition CDU-CSU conservatives and well ahead of the Social Democrats of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Lea, a 22-year-old office clerk, declined to reveal how she voted but said the AfD and the new economically leftwing but socially conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which garnered 14% in Brandenburg, were the “only ones” addressing local security.
Leisten, who said she had experienced “exclusion, propaganda and intimidation” as a teenager in Brandenburg, praised the party’s mastery of platforms such as YouTube and TikTok to reach the young, “while Olaf Scholz posts boring videos about his briefcase”.
All the young Germans approached by the Guardian in Brandenburg talked about their anxiety about the war in Ukraine, with many criticising the governing parties for weapons shipments and expressing angst that they or their peers could one day be called on to fight.
“I voted for Volt, mainly because I’m concerned about the future of Europe and really care about the cause of peace,” said a legal system trainee, Mathias Sarömba, 22, referring to the small pro-European party that called for rejecting extremists with slogans such as “Don’t Be an Asshole”.
Kilian Hampel, a co-author of the study Youth in Germany, which in April predicted a jump in support for the far right, said that with three eastern states voting in September and a general election expected next year, the trend toward fragmentation was likely to magnify.
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