A study shows: Democracy is no longer a sure-fire success in Germany. It also shows that chauvinistic attitudes and authoritarian ideas are spreading, especially in eastern Germany.
According to the study, the proportion of people with a closed right-wing extremist worldview is now higher than when it was surveyed two years earlier.
Berlin. Enthusiasm for democracy is waning somewhat in Germany, while at the same time nationalism is increasing - this is the finding of the current edition of the Leipzig Authoritarianism Study. For the first time since the start of the representative study, which has been carried out every two years since 2002 on the basis of an opinion survey, support for democracy as an idea is below the 90 percent mark (89.3 percent) nationwide.
According to the information, this is due to “the drastic drop in eastern Germany,” where support for democracy fell from 94.6 percent in 2024 to 85.7 percent, while there was a slight increase in the west.
Differences between East and West and women and men
On the other hand, the proportion of people who have a closed right-wing extremist worldview has increased. According to the study, it is currently 6.9 percent nationwide. The last time the scientists found a higher value was in the survey in 2012. At that time it was 8.8 percent.
Here too there is a significant difference between East and West. While 6.5 percent of West Germans currently fall into this category, in the East it is 8.5 percent. The numbers also differ between genders: according to the survey, 5.6 percent of men support a right-wing authoritarian dictatorship, while only 3 percent of women do so.
Relationship between anti-Semitism and party preference
Political competitors have recently made allegations against the Left Party in Berlin regarding anti-Semitic attitudes. This cannot be seen from the data collected by scientists on party preferences and anti-Semitism, at least nationwide. According to this, the proportion of respondents with high anti-Semitism values was highest among those who identified themselves as AfD or BSW voters - more than one in ten in each case. According to the study, the values were lowest among voters from the Greens and the Left.
To determine this, the researchers presented participants with twelve statements on which they were asked to take a position. These included sentences such as “Even today the influence of the Jews is too great.” and “Israeli politics are making the Jews more and more unsympathetic to me.” and “The German guilt complex is hindering the Palestinians’ struggle for freedom.”
Aggressive form of political nostalgia
The scientists found a “regressive nostalgia”, in which a contrast is constructed between an idealized past and a present perceived as corrupt and threatening, in 15 percent of those surveyed. This “aggressive expression of nostalgia” is significantly more common among older people, in low income groups, among East Germans and those surveyed without a high school diploma than among younger people, West Germans and people with higher education and more income.
To measure this, respondents should position themselves with sentences such as “It annoys me that people like me no longer receive the same respect in our society as they used to.” and “I feel nostalgic when I think of the economic advantages that people like me used to enjoy.”
National Socialist attitudes among almost a quarter of the population
The survey took place from March 16th to June 3rd. The 2,507 participants were people aged 16 and over who had to have sufficient knowledge of German in order to fill out a comprehensive questionnaire.
The study by director Oliver Decker and co-editor Ayline Heller was created in cooperation with the Green Party-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Otto Brenner Foundation of IG Metall. It is entitled "The unstoppable rise of authoritarianism. Longing for the past and redemption through destruction".
The tendency towards National Socialism is more widespread than ever since the long-term study began, says Heller. Almost a quarter of the population currently holds such attitudes. While voters with right-wing extremist attitudes largely voted for the CDU, CSU or SPD in 2006, they have now found a “political home” with the AfD. Decker explains: “What the AfD is offering is the fiction of a homogeneous national community.”
Who tends to get into fights?
According to the study, the proportion of the population who can imagine using violence to assert their own interests has fallen for the second time in a row. In 2022, 15.7 percent of those surveyed said: “In certain situations, I am quite prepared to use physical violence to assert my interests.” positioned. In the 2024 survey it was 14 percent. The current survey shows that the proportion has now fallen to 9.9 percent. This is the lowest value measured so far in this series investigation and is primarily due to a sharp decline in the east.
In order to find out how large the proportion of the population is that supports or at least tolerates violence perpetrated by other people, the opinion was asked on the following statement: "I would never use violence myself. But it is good that there are people who let their fists do the talking when there is no other option." Compared to the previous survey two years earlier, the value in the east rose from 16.8 percent to 21.2 percent, while it fell slightly in the west. Nationwide it remained relatively constant at 19.4 percent (2024: 19.7 percent).
