Not even Christians vote for the CDU any more

It is often said that, in politics, young people do not vote for the extremes. They prefer the liberals, the Greens or anyone who embodies the European dream in all its purity. In the case of Sunday’s elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the story is somewhat different. The interesting point is that, whilst it is true that the AfD has drawn its support mainly from those with no religious affiliation, analyses show that far-right ideologies have won over the hearts and minds of Protestants more than Catholics: In the under-34 age group, in fact, 23 per cent of Catholics voted for Alternative für Deutschland, whilst the figure rises to 39 per cent among Protestants. That is a notable difference. Among those aged between 35 and 59, however, there is no difference: 38 per cent of Protestants and 37 per cent of Catholics voted for the AfD.

The real problem – also when it comes to assessing the medium- to long-term consequences of Sunday’s vote – is the collapse in support for the CDU among young Christians (both Catholics and Protestants): those under thirty-four have, in fact, refused en masse to vote for the major Christian Democratic party, which was chosen by only 6 per cent of Catholics and 8 per cent of Protestants. Performance in the 35–59 age bracket was only slightly better, at 22 per cent, but at least that figure reached double digits. It is also notable that the youngest Catholics preferred the SPD (in 19 per cent of cases) and the Greens (18 per cent). The appeal of the two left-wing parties differed among Protestants: 22 per cent chose the Greens and only 9 per cent the Social Democratic Party. The overall result represents a stark wake-up call for Friedrich Merz: even young practising Christians—those who ought to remember Konrad Adenauer but who instead vote for anything other than the CDU—do not want to see him, not even in a photograph. This is no small problem.