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German Right-Wing Party AfD Finds More Support in Rural Areas with Aging Populations

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Franz
  • Marcel Fratzscher
  • Alexander S. Kritikos

Abstract

This study examines in which setting the German political party Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) performed well in the 2017 parliamentary elections. The AfD’s popularity was relatively high in electoral districts with an above-average amount of craft businesses, a disproportionately high amount of older residents and workers in the manufacturing sector, and—applicable mainly to western German electoral districts—where the disposable household income was lower than the national average. The unemployment rate in the electoral districts and the share of foreigners in the population affect the AfD’s popularity to a lesser extent. Generally, the AfD performs better in rural areas with negative demographic trends—a phenomenon that occurs more frequently in eastern German districts than in western districts. This allows for the conclusion that perspective is lacking among those living in rural areas with negative demographic developments.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Franz & Marcel Fratzscher & Alexander S. Kritikos, 2018. "German Right-Wing Party AfD Finds More Support in Rural Areas with Aging Populations," DIW Weekly Report, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 8(7/8), pages 69-79.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwdwr:dwr8-7-1
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    File URL: https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.578785.de/dwr-18-07-1.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Giavazzi, Francesco & Lemoli, Giacomo & Rubera, Gaia & Iglhaut, Felix, 2020. "Terrorist Attacks, Cultural Incidents and the Vote for Radical Parties: Analyzing Text from Twitter," CEPR Discussion Papers 14455, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Francesco Giavazzi & Felix Iglhaut & Giacomo Lemoli & Gaia Rubera, 2020. "Terrorist Attacks, Cultural Incidents and the Vote for Radical Parties: Analyzing Text from Twitter," NBER Working Papers 26825, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Yonatan Berman, 2020. "Inequality, Identity, and the Long-Run Evolution of Political Cleavages in Israel 1949-2019," Working Papers halshs-03022224, HAL.
    4. Francesco Giavazzi & Felix Iglhaut & Giacomo Lemoli & Gaia Rubera, 2020. "Terrorist Attacks, Cultural Incidents and the Vote for Radical Parties: Analyzing Text from Twitter," Working Papers 659, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    German political parties; federal elections 2017; structural data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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