ZDF “Politbarometer”: A good two thirds see AfD as a threat to democracy

The majority of people in Germany see the AfD as a threat to democracy in the country. This emerges from the current ZDF political barometer. Accordingly, 68 percent answered the question whether they classified the party as a threat to democracy in the affirmative. 29 percent said no. In the East, 42 percent see no threat to democracy from the AfD, while in the West the figure is 26 percent.

People are divided on the demand for a ban on the AfD. 43 percent of those surveyed by the Elections Research Group are in favor, while 51 percent are against it. The verdict on how to deal with the AfD is also rather mixed: 45 percent of those surveyed think that the other parties should fundamentally not work with the AfD. 53 percent believe that the other parties should decide whether to cooperate on a case-by-case basis.

Federal government reforms criticized

Those surveyed were predominantly critical of the government's planned reforms. Only 30 percent think that overall they are going in the right direction, while 59 percent think they are going in the wrong direction. 80 percent believe that the burden is distributed rather unfairly. Only twelve percent think they are fairly fair.

If there were a federal election next Sunday, the AfD would clearly remain the strongest force with an unchanged 28 percent, ahead of the CDU/CSU with still 21 percent. The SPD would still get 13 percent. The Greens could expect 15 percent, one percentage point more than in the previous survey. The Left remains at twelve percent, the FDP at three percent. The current government coalition made up of the Union and the SPD would therefore not have a majority.

AfD has a state parliament president for the first time

The AfD is being monitored nationwide by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected case. Individual state associations are classified as definitely right-wing extremist by the respective state Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The AfD emerged as the strongest force in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in September. As of this week, the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt has appointed Tobias Rausch, the president of the state parliament, for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic.

The ZDF political barometer survey was carried out by the Mannheim Elections Research Group. From October 5th to 7th, 1,311 randomly selected eligible voters were surveyed by telephone and online. The survey is representative of the population eligible to vote in Germany. The error range is around +/- three percentage points for a share value of 40 percent and around +/- two percentage points for a share value of 10 percent.