In Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, new state parliaments will be elected in the coming weeks. A survey looks at the political mood there.
Even 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a clear majority of voters in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg see East Germany lagging behind the West of the country. In a survey by the YouGov Institute, 60 percent of respondents agreed completely or somewhat with the statement “Living conditions in West Germany are significantly better than in East Germany.” In contrast, 30 percent voted completely or somewhat disagree.
According to its own information, the institute surveyed 1,898 eligible voters in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg between August 9 and 16. According to YouGov, the figures are therefore representative of the respondents as a group, not individually in the three federal states.
Prejudices against East Germans
The state parliaments in the three states will soon be re-elected. Saxony and Thuringia will vote on September 1st, Brandenburg will follow three weeks later.
While the majority of respondents (77 percent) believe that West Germans have prejudices against East Germans, the opposite is true. 45 percent also see prejudices in the East against the West, while 46 percent see no prejudices at all or rather not at all.
Majority sees immigration as a burden
51 percent of respondents in the three eastern German states see immigration as a burden, while only 22 percent see it as necessary to ensure prosperity. Immigration and asylum policy are named as the most important issue for local people, with 35 percent saying that they believe this is the most important issue.
68 percent of people are very or somewhat dissatisfied with the state of democracy in Germany. 35 percent want to see cooperation between other parties and the AfD completely ruled out. 26 percent are in favor of actively seeking cooperation. A third of those surveyed want cooperation to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The AfD is classified as definitely right-wing extremist by the respective constitutional protection agencies in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, and as suspected right-wing extremist nationwide and in Brandenburg. The party is taking legal action against this classification.
Some top candidates little known
The top politicians in the three states received very different ratings in the survey. Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) is viewed very or rather positively by 41 percent of eligible voters, while 37 percent rate him very or rather negatively. Thuringia’s government leader Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) is viewed very or rather positively by 37 percent, while 38 percent rate him negatively. Dietmar Woidke (SPD) in Brandenburg has 24 percent of respondents on the positive side, while 23 percent rate him very or rather negatively.
Some of the top candidates are still little known. 61 percent of respondents answered “I don’t know” for Jan Redmann (CDU, Brandenburg), while Mario Voigt (CDU, Thuringia) received 47 percent.
Source: Stern
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