22.3% of respondents in Germany supported the idea of a single strong party — Deutsche Welle

In Germany, 22.3% of participants in a new study supported the idea of a “single strong party” that would embody the national community. In the country’s eastern states, this figure was 30.9%. This was reported by Deutsche Welle, citing an authoritarianism study presented in Berlin.

Declining satisfaction with democracy

The survey was conducted by the Else Frenkel-Brunswik Institute for Democracy Research at Leipzig University. It is based on responses from more than 900 respondents, whom the researchers consider a representative sample of Germany’s population.

For the first time since this series of studies began in 2002, support for democracy as an idea has fallen below 90%. The lowest level was recorded among residents of former East Germany — 85.7%. At the same time, only one-third of respondents nationwide are satisfied with how democracy works in everyday life: 22.8% in the east and 36% in the west.

Rise in far-right sentiment

The share of respondents with a consistent far-right worldview reached 6.9% — the highest figure since 2014. Approval of what researchers called chauvinistic national pride stood at 19.9%, also the highest level in the history of the study.

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Nearly 15% of respondents agreed with the statement that “everything must collapse so that something new can emerge.” Nearly one in three believes that something radical is needed to change the current situation, while another 29.1% partially agreed with this statement.

The study’s authors also recorded an increase in antisemitic sentiment, which has more than doubled since 2022. For 16% of respondents, the Israeli government’s policy is a determining factor in antisemitic attitudes. The level of hostility toward Muslims was 34.1%, while 18.3% of participants agreed with anti-feminist statements.

According to the study, among voters characterized by a desire for a radical break with the current state of affairs and stronger antisemitic sentiment, a significant share prefers the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. At the same time, the researchers noted that in previous years, high levels of approval of far-right statements subsequently declined.