The state election in Brandenburg was strongly influenced by a neck-and-neck race between the SPD and AfD in the final weeks before the election. Prime minister Dietmar Woidke made his stay in office dependent on the SPD achieving a better result than the AfD. This led to a strong shift towards the SPD and AfD in the polls during the final weeks before the election, while the poll results for the other parties fell significantly.
In the end, the SPD is just ahead of the AfD, followed at a considerable distance by the BSW and CDU. All other parties failed to make it over the five percent hurdle. The direct mandates went exclusively to the SPD and AfD. This means that the Brandenburg state parliament now only consists of four parties.
Voters are very dissatisfied. In Brandenburg, only 20 percent are satisfied with the federal government. This dissatisfaction makes the strong results of the AfD and BSW possible in the first place.
Please note, to date the study is only available in German.
