The AfD will nominate its candidates for the European elections in a week. The optimism in the party leadership is great. However, as a “centrist party” it is hardly noticed by the population.
More than half of Germans currently consider the AfD to be a right-wing extremist party. This is shown by the results of a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency.
Accordingly, 57 percent consider the term “right-wing extremist” to be suitable for describing the AfD. According to the survey, 19 percent of citizens believe that the AfD is a middle-class conservative party.
Nine percent of those surveyed stated that they saw the AfD as a “centrist party”. Eight percent of Germans do not find any of these attributions appropriate. Seven percent of the participants in the survey either had no opinion or did not provide any information on this question.
The protection of the constitution sees a suspected case
In March 2021, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist. This classification, which allows the use of intelligence services, was confirmed by the Cologne Administrative Court in March 2022. The AfD appealed. The proceedings before the Higher Administrative Court in Münster have not yet been completed.
In nationwide voter polls, the AfD was recently in second place behind the CDU and CSU with around 20 percent.
As the results of the YouGov survey showed, older people, people with higher school qualifications and people living in western Germany are more likely to see the AfD as right-wing extremist. There are more men than women among those who see the AfD as a middle-class conservative party. Of those surveyed who said they voted for the AfD in the 2021 federal election, most opted for the “bourgeois-conservative” label.
Overall, voters have the impression of being relatively well informed about the AfD’s position on specific political issues, at least compared to what they know about the programs of other parties.
According to the YouGov survey, 46 percent of eligible voters believe they know a great deal or quite a lot about the political goals of the AfD. About as many Germans think they know little or nothing about the goals of this party.
The values for the CDU, CSU, SPD and Greens are slightly higher. About 56 percent of those entitled to vote know according to their own assessment what the Greens want to achieve. With regard to the CDU and CSU, 53 percent of the participants in the survey said so. For the SPD, the figure was 52 percent. 40 percent believe they know what the goals of the FDP are. The Left Party currently only has 35 percent.
Who sees the extremism of the party?
The AfD considers people who voted for the Greens in the last federal election to be right-wing extremists, followed by voters from the Left Party and the SPD. Among the voters of the CDU, CSU and FDP, the proportion of those who hold this view is somewhat lower.
According to the survey, there are also a few of those surveyed who voted for the AfD in 2021 who they now consider to be right-wing extremists. However, the results of the survey are not representative of the individual voter groups and therefore only reflect a trend. In addition, the AfD has changed in recent years – also according to the assessment of elected representatives who have since left the party.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
