Something New More Often: The electorate of the new left-conservative party BSW

After a long period of conflict, Sahra Wagenknecht and several others have split from the Left Party and founded a new party: "Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht – Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit" (BSW). A representative survey now provides information on the attitudes and social structure of the BSW electorate.
A few months after the party was founded, the majority of voters already have an opinion about the new party. 18 percent like the BSW, while 44 percent reject the new party. A further 27 percent are indifferent. 5 percent want to vote for the BSW in a federal election and a further 3 percent can imagine doing so. This is similar to the party’s result in the European election. Whether this will actually be enough to enter the Bundestag in the 2025 federal election cannot be estimated at present.

BSW voters are slightly more likely to be men and their formal education is more often than average on a medium level. The party can attract voters in eastern Germany in particular. 

In terms of political attitudes, BSW voters are similar to AfD voters, although not quite as forceful. For example, voters with a preference for the BSW demand that immigration opportunities for foreigners be further restricted. However, they do not demand such restrictions as strongly as AfD supporters, but more strongly than supporters of all other parties. The same applies to the trade-off between economic growth and climate protection. Here, BSW voters are more likely to favor economic growth, but not as forcefully as AfD voters. In social policy the picture differs. When it comes to the trade-off between higher taxes or more welfare state benefits, BSW voters are close to the population average. The study also looks at trust, life satisfaction and satisfaction with democracy in Germany.

These and other detailed findings can be found in the full study " Öfter mal was Neues – Repräsentative Umfrage zu den Wählerinnen und Wählern der neuen Partei Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW)” here as PDF. Please note, to date the study is only available in German.