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Monitor Election and Social Research

Changing political attitudes

Results from three representative trend surveys

The study shows changes in the population's political attitudes between December 2022 and December 2023. How have satisfaction with democracy and trust in institutions developed? How optimistic are citizens about the future? How do citizens position themselves on the left-right axis? And how are these attitudes related to the level of formal education? The study investigates these questions with the help of three representative surveys, each conducted six months apart.

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The Greens' voters have regained their optimism. The confidence of Green voters for the future is increasing and their satisfaction with democracy is stabilizing. In addition, trust in the federal government and the Bundestag is increasing among Green voters.
The trend among SPD voters is less clear. Their satisfaction with democracy is rising again and their confidence in the future is also increasing. At the same time, however, SPD voters are increasingly losing confidence in the (SPD-led) federal government and the Bundestag.
There is little positive to report for the CDU/CSU electorate. Confidence for the future is stabilizing at the rather low level of the previous survey. Since the first survey in December 2022, however, confidence in the future among CDU/CSU voters has fallen by 11 points. Satisfaction with democracy among CDU/CSU voters has fallen by 22 points overall. Confidence in the Bundestag also fell by 22 points among CDU/CSU voters. Trust in the federal government fell by 14 points between the first and third survey.
The AfD electorate is still characterized by great pessimism. AfD voters are by far the most dissatisfied with democracy and the majority distrust the Bundestag and the federal government. Confidence in the future among AfD voters increased significantly between December 2022 and June 2023, but has now decreased again. Although AfD voters are still more confident than in the first survey, they are particularly pessimistic compared to all other voter groups. At the same time, AfD voters have moved significantly to the right in their self-perception on the left-right scale. In addition, their willingness to change their vote is particularly low. 70 percent of AfD voters cannot imagine voting for another party. The increased proportion of AfD voters as measured by the Sunday poll therefore does not mean that this group of voters has become more centrist, moderate or willing to change parties.
Read the entire study „Bäumchen wechsel dich? Politische Einstellungen im Wandel“ here as a PDF.
Please note, to date the study is only available in German.

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Contact

Dr. Sabine Pokorny

Dr

Electoral and Social Research

sabine.pokorny@kas.de +49 30 26996-3544

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About this series

The publications of the Election and Social Research Monitor are part of our Monitor publication series. The Monitor series deals with one main topic at a time from the perspective of KAS experts and places it in the political and social context on the basis of a few key points.