Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote in the European elections, with particular support in the east

Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote in the European elections, with particular support in the east

Paul Friedrich, 16, could not wait to cast his first ballot and had no doubt which German party had earned his support in the watershed European elections.

“Correct, I voted AfD,” he said proudly in the bustle of the commuter railway station in Brandenburg an der Havel, an hour from central Berlin.

The far-right Alternative für Deutschland made particularly stunning gains on Sunday among young voters. For the first time in a national poll, 16- and 17-year-olds could cast their ballots – a reform that had been strongly backed by left-leaning parties.

After overwhelmingly supporting the Greens five years ago, Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote – an 11-point rise – helping place the party second behind the opposition CDU-CSU conservatives and well ahead of the Social Democrats of the chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

The AfD tapped deep wells of support in the former communist east, winning in every state including Brandenburg, where it claimed 27.5% of the vote.

…

And his concerns echo those of many teenagers and twentysomethings in town: fears of war spreading in Europe, inflation, economic decline, “unchecked” immigration and, above all, violent crime, which they say is rampant when they use public transport or hang out in public spaces at night.

  • NoneOfUrBusiness
    6•7 months ago

    It’s true, to an extent, but not because migrants bad. You can look at this, but the short of it is that the stats you see in the news are like that mostly because they’re counting illegal immigration and illegal stay as crimes in their stats, which as you can probably guess is pretty flawed. You remove that and the numbers look… still bad but a lot more realistic. Then you realize that migrants are more likely to be poor young men (aka the demographic most likely to commit crime). As the article explains, Syrians for example are actually underrepresented in crime stats, because they tend to be complete family units (most Syrians in Germany were allowed to bring their families over) so the demographics are more representative of a normal society.

    • @EverythingispenguinsEnglish
      2•7 months ago

      Thank you that was an interesting read. I have always been amused by the ridiculousness of branding immigrants as criminals for immigranting illegally there for making them ineligible for immigration because they are criminals.

      It sort of seem like the secret take away is that the much of the perceived crime is being created because of immigration, but not by immigrants. These attacks on immigrants would be unreported. So not in the statics but still perceived by the public. Very catch 22.

      Also it is “amazing” how when men feel they are need and useful to there society, family unit, etc. They tend to be much better, productive members of society. But when you tell them that they are useless and unneeded. They quickly become the useless people they are told they are. (I am sure this is woman thing too, I feel it worse for men idk)