star survey
Germans love Harris, but more and more expect Trump
Even Elon Musk is interested in surveys about the US election in Germany. Three quarters would vote for Kamala Harris. But fewer and fewer expect the Democrat to win.
When ZDF published a survey on the US election in mid-October, entrepreneur and Trump supporter Elon Musk posted on his short message service “X” (formerly Twitter): “This is what happens when people are fed state propaganda.” The trigger was that, according to the political barometer, 72 percent of Germans expected Kamala Harris to win. For Musk, this can apparently only be explained by disinformation.
Germans have a clear opinion on the US election
The star wanted to know more precisely and asked the Forsa Institute to divide the topic into two questions: Who would the Germans vote for if they were allowed to vote in the USA? And what outcome do the respondents actually expect? And lo and behold: the Germans know very well how to distinguish between desire and probability.
The Germans love Kamala Harris. Nothing has changed in the past few weeks. 77 percent would choose the Democratic candidate if they took part in the US election. Only 15 percent would vote for Donald Trump. Eight percent express no opinion.
Support for Harris is particularly high among women (82 percent), but 72 percent of men would also vote for the Democratic candidate. The supporters of the parties in the traffic light coalition would clearly vote for Harris – those of the SPD 97 percent, those of the Greens 98 percent and the FDP 82 percent. This level of unity in the government camp is rare. But 89 percent of the Union’s voters would also vote for the – from their point of view – more left-wing candidate. Even the supporters of the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance are largely behind Harris (63 percent). Enthusiasm is only low among AfD supporters (27 percent).
The majority of AfD voters would only choose Donald Trump (67 percent). And yet the mood has changed here too. In mid-August, 64 percent of Germans expected Kamala Harris to win, but now it is only 51 percent. For Trump, the corresponding value rose from 32 to 40 percent. While women continue to overwhelmingly expect the Vice President to be successful (57 percent to 33 percent), the majority of men now expect Trump to return to the White House (47 percent to 44 percent).
Contrary to what Elon Musk claims, the Germans have definitely noticed the extensive reporting by the independent media about the tightening race in the USA. They just don’t like the development – unlike the billionaire.
The data was compiled by the market and opinion research institute Forsa for stern and RTL Germany collected by telephone between October 23rd and 24th, 2024. The survey is therefore representative. Database: 1004 surveys. Statistical margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points.
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.
