Green Party, FDP most popular parties among young voters in German election
Clean Energy Wire
The Green Party and the Free Democrats (FDP) were the two most popular parties among young voters in the German elections, an analysis conducted by research institute Forschungsgruppe Wahlen has found. At 22 and 19 percent of the share, respectively, the Greens and the FDP led the scoreboard among voters younger than 30 years. The overall winner Social Democrats (SPD) gained 17 percent in this age group, whereas the conservative CDU/CSU alliance achieved merely 11 percent. The Greens had run a campaign based on more ambitious climate action, whereas the FDP focused on less state intervention during the pandemic and on digitalisation. Party preferences tilted more towards the SPD and the conservatives as voter age increases, with 35 percent of over 60-year-olds voting for the Social Democrats and 34 percent for the CDU/CSU and only nine percent for the Greens and eight for the FDP. According to the researchers, the conservatives’ historic election defeat is due to a large extent to their unpopular candidate Armin Laschet, who less than 30 percent see fit for the job of chancellor, opposed to 67 percent for SPD candidate Olaf Scholz, who led his party to a spectacular comeback. The CDU/CSU also lost in voter confidence regarding job security and making the economy fit for the future, the institute said. Regarding climate policy competency, a chief concern for many voters, the Greens clearly led the field and were also the most popular at 27 percent among voters with a university degree.
The federal election concluded 16 years of Angela Merkel’s reign as German chancellor and ended with the victory of finance minister and vice chancellor Scholz. However, Scholz has yet to conclude a coalition agreement with the Greens and the FDP to become the next chancellor -- an option that is also still open to the conservatives despite being only the second strongest party in parliament. The still widely popular Merkel will remain in office as caretaker until the expected long coalition negotiations have produced a new government.
