Good Feelings, bad feelings

Even in the first survey, it was noticeable that a party was rarely mentioned by more than 50 per cent of all eligible voters. This is even less the case in the new survey February to April 2024. Only three terms reveal clear party images among all eligible voters: The CDU is mentioned by 59 per cent for the term “conservative”. The Greens are associated with the image of “sustainable” by 52 per cent. And 72 per cent of voters mention the AfD when it comes to the term “racist”. All other mentions are below 50 per cent.

The SPD receives the most mentions for the term “bourgeois” with 33 per cent. The FDP is most likely to be mentioned for the term “prosperity” (25 per cent). The Left only achieves double-digit figures for the terms “dispute” and “cosmopolitan” (12 per cent each). The BSW is mentioned extremely rarely. The BSW only achieves values in the low to mid single-digit percentage range for all terms.

Voting for a party is definitely an emotional matter. All electorates have positive feelings such as hope, trust, satisfaction and confidence in their own party. In contrast, negative feelings are triggered in almost all electorates by the AfD. In Eastern Germany, negative feelings towards the AfD are less pronounced than in Western Germany.

AfD and BSW voters have negative feelings towards the Greens in particular. Overall, the Greens trigger more negative feelings and fewer positive feelings than in 2018. The FDP, the Left and BSW hardly trigger any emotions.

These and other detailed findings can be found in the full study "Gute Gefühle, schlechte Gefühle. Repräsentative Umfrage zu Parteiimages und von Parteien ausgelösten Gefühlen” here as PDF. Please note, to date the study is only available in German.