Who social media in the Bundestag election campaign for the winner

Nika* does not follow the top candidate on social media. She is still too young to choose. If she could already set her cross in this choice, she would only follow one account anyway: “Robert Habeck”says the 17-year-old. Her girlfriend, who stands next to her, nods. “He is the only one who is currently in question.”

It is Monday afternoon, the temperatures in Berlin-Charlottenburg on the shopping street not far from the Ku’damm Eisig. The student pulls her black buffer jacket closer together in front of her stomach. “I think anyway that politicians do not post particularly information -rich things on social media, but rather want to recruit people for themselves.” She would rather find out more about serious sources such as news platforms.

Like Nika, many other passers -by who are entitled to vote and with those of the star speaks that day. Only a little use social media to find out about the candidates and their parties. However, one name is mentioned several times: Heidi Reichinnek. The left-wing top candidate has achieved, which many politicians in the democratic spectrum can only dream of: their Bundestag speech, in which she emotionally divided Friedrich Merz and his asylum plans supported by the AfD, went viral with more than six million clicks at Tiktok.

“Heidi Reichinnek is a political shooting star on social media”says influencer expert Marlon Giglinger. With her anger speech in the Bundestag, she had succeeded in reproducing the mood of many people in a nutshell. “She had an absolute momentum.” How Die Linke can use this can also be measured in numbers: Since Reichinnek’s internet success, the party has broken its own record number with more than 86,000 members and has been able to improve in surveys from four to six percent. The left is particularly popular among younger voters. If the party keeps the upward trend, this gives it the move to the Bundestag, which is still impossible in autumn. One reason maybe: the strong presence on the net.

But that is not the rule, says Giglinger. “Basically, a viral video is not enough to influence the favor of voters.” Its influencer agency “Network screamer” In a ranking, evaluated which politicians have the greatest range on which platform at the end of January. Reichinnek took 12th place until shortly before her rage speech. Her party colleague Gregor Gysi made it at least in seventh place, right behind Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The list of candidates is led by a woman who may not be part of the new Bundestag. With 2.9 million followers, Sahra Wagenknecht is Germany’s highest-wide political influencer. It is still ahead of Alice Weidel, who follows 2.7 million people. The two women strongly differentiate between which platform they use: While Wagenknecht scores especially on Facebook (745,000 followers) and YouTube (674,000 followers), Weidel Tiktok queen (805,000 followers) is.

Reichinnek, Weidel, Wagenknecht – three women who polarize with different positions. Three women who are not part of the political center. Why are exactly these edge parties received so well online? Expert Giglinger explains this: “It is mostly very emotional topics that are addressed, sometimes the fear of the population is played.” You can see that well with Alice Weidel. “They also often offer short, concise answers to questions that actually need a long answer.” In addition, there were topics that polarize, are more often shared and more comments – that strengthens the algorithm, means: “The range increases and rises and rises.”

However, Weidel can benefit from this range. After years of network work, she is stable with her party around 20 percent approval in the surveys. The AfD in the east is the strongest party for the 18 to 24-year-olds. The strong Tiktok appearance of the entire party should also be responsible for this.

But Weidel has not only fought for her reach with emotional topics and clever advertising videos. Most recently, she benefited particularly from the attention of Elon Musk, who offered her on the short messages of the short messages. Between December 15, 2024 and January 14, 2025 alone, she was able to win more than 370,000 new followers and almost double her followers. Anyone who wanted to listen to her discussion with Musk on X had to subscribe to Weidel’s profile – the AfD says: “Thank you, Elon!”

Range alone does not win any elections. This is shown by the case of leader Wagenknecht: The BSW is fighting for his survival with four percent in the surveys. Friedrich Merz, who only occupies ninth in political tranking and thus has fewer followers than all other candidates for chancellor, shows that voices on the net does not have to be decisive. “Merz does not feel as comfortable on social media as some of his colleagues”suspects Giglinger. You notice that. “Authenticity is the most important thing in social media.” Nevertheless, Merz currently has the best prospects for the Chancellery.

If you compare the numbers with top politicians abroad, the Germans still have a lot to catch up. No matter whether Emmanuel Macron, Giorgia Meloni or Donald Trump, they all have millions of followers. Scholz, Habeck and Merz only come to a few hundred thousand. “It is important to build up a range on social media”says Giglinger. “At the latest in the 2029 elections, they will play a much larger role.”

Habeck, according to Giglinger, already master the game quite well. “To be close to the citizen than the ‘kitchen table speaker’.” This strategy pulls – especially among the younger ones on Tikkok and Instagram. Next year, when the 17-year-old Nika is finally entitled to vote, she also wants to follow her favorite top politician. And on which platform? “Instagram.”

*Name changed by the editors