In the most recent election, voter turnout amounted to around 82.5 percent of the population. This was an increase compared to the previous election, with 76.4 percent.

According to the provisional results of the German Election on February 23, 2025, the CDU Party are expected to win the highest share of the vote in the 2025 German election at 28.5 percent. The AfD Party are currently forecast to receive 20.8 percent of the vote, ahead of the SPD on 16.4 percent and the Green Party on 11.6 percent.

In five out of Germany's sixteen federal states the AfD Party is expected to win the highest share of the vote, with their support strongest in the east of Germany, and the state of Thuringia in particular. The CDU won the highest share in eight states, with the SPD winning the largest share in Hamburg, and Bremen, while Die Linke winning the highest share in Berlin.

At first glance, the German federal election of 2017 saw many losers but only one winner. While the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) lost a high share of their previous voters, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-populist party, managed to achieve an extraordinary success by doubling its amount of voters compared to the previous election. By making use of data from a Voting Advice Application, the paper seeks to explore the AfD’s electoral success and more specifically its ability to attract voters from the mainstream and traditionally powerful parties. Drawing on the literature on radical right-wing parties in Europe, the analysis tests hypotheses on the effect of attitudinal determinants of vote switching from the two mainstream parties in Germany towards the AfD. In line with the existing literature, the results show that overall motivations for voting for the AfD seem to be somewhat tangentially connected to demographic variables and more strongly related to ideological self-assessment such as being more conservative and less opposed against state intervention in the economy. As well, relevant policy positions concerning immigration, Euroscepticism and state interventionism can explain vote switching to the AfD.

This data collection contains electoral and demographic data at several levels of aggregation (kreis, land/regierungsberzirk, and wahlkreis) for Germany in the Weimar Republic period of 1919-1933. Two datasets are available. Part 1, 1919 Data, presents raw and percentagized election returns at the wahlkreis level for the 1919 election to the Nationalversammlung. Information is provided on the number and percentage of eligible voters and the total votes cast for parties such as the German National People's Party, German People's Party, Christian People's Party, German Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, and Independent Social Democratic Party. Part 2, 1920-1933 Data, consists of returns for elections to the Reichstag, 1920-1933, and for the Reichsprasident elections of 1925 and 1932 (including runoff elections in each year), returns for two national referenda, held in 1926 and 1929, and data pertaining to urban population, religion, and occupations, taken from the German Census of 1925. This second dataset contains data at several levels of aggregation and is a merged file. Crosstemporal discrepancies, such as changes in the names of the geographical units and the disappearance of units, have been adjusted for whenever possible. Variables in this file provide information for the total number and percentage of eligible voters and votes cast for parties, including the German Nationalist People's Party, German People's Party, German Center Party, German Democratic Party, German Social Democratic Party, German Communist Party, Bavarian People's Party, Nationalist-Socialist German Workers' Party (Hitler's movement), German Middle Class Party, German Business and Labor Party, Conservative People's Party, and other parties. Data are also provided for the total number and percentage of votes cast in the Reichsprasident elections of 1925 and 1932 for candidates Jarres, Held, Ludendorff, Braun, Marx, Hellpach, Thalman, Hitler, Duesterburg, Von Hindenburg, Winter, and others. Additional variables provide information on occupations in the country, including the number of wage earners employed in agriculture, industry and manufacturing, trade and transportation, civil service, army and navy, clergy, public health, welfare, domestic and personal services, and unknown occupations. Other census data cover the total number of wage earners in the labor force and the number of female wage earners employed in all occupations. Also provided is the percentage of the total population living in towns with 5,000 inhabitants or more, and the number and percentage of the population who were Protestants, Catholics, and Jews.

The SPD won the largest share of votes in the German election of 2021, which took place on September 26, 2021, with approximately 25.7 percent of German voters voting for the center-left party. Angela Merkel did not run in this election after being in the role of German Chancellor for 16 years, with her CDU party falling into second place, on 18.9 percent of votes.

Percentage of valid votes (Representative European Election Statistics): Germany, cut-off date, parties, gender, age groups

In the German Election on February 23, 2025, the CDU Party won the highest share of the vote among both men and women, at 30 percent, and 27 percent respectively.

The CDU is expected to win 208 seats in the German Parliament (Bundestag), based on provisional results from the German election held on February 23, 2025. Although this would make the CDU the biggest party, they would still have too few seats to form a government, and would therefore have to enter into a coalition with one or more of the other parties. While the AfD are predicted to win 152 seats, the CDU has already ruled out working with them, and would likely look to the SPD or Green Party to form a potential government. Economy and migration the main issues heading into election When polled about what they thought were the most important issues facing Germany, the top two issues just before the election were the economy, and immigration / integration, selected by 43 percent, and 42 percent of respondents respectively. In the months after the 2021 election, the issue of energy supply and the climate was consistently seen as the most pressing issue, with this eventually overtaken by the War in Ukraine in February 2022. The issues of wages and prices was also seen important issue throughout 2022 and 2023, although this has since subsided as wider concerns about the state of the German economy have overtaken it. Possible coalitions for the next government Barring a surprise collapse in support, the CDU are likely to head the next German government. What that will look like depends on how many parties can clear the five percent threshold and ultimately win seats in the German Parliament. With just five major parties predicted to receive the required vote share, this will make the matter of forming a coalition slightly easier. The most likely coalition is probably one that consists of the CDU and SPD, although if they win enough seats, the CDU may be able to form one with the Greens.

With his longitudinal study a ´Global analysis´ for the entire Reich in its regional variety is sought in order to be able to analyse connections between regional traditions and political situations based on statistically solid base information on social structure. Even in phases of rapid social change this connection can only be followed over a long time interval. The analyses conducted by J. Schmaedeke encompass the time interval of the 6 Reichstag elections of 1890 to 1912. Descriptive data in the form of an exact counting of the votes for the individual candidates and parties is available. The long-time comparison encompassing the entire German Reich in the years 1890 to 1912 (thus the epoch of ´Wilhelminian Germany´), is based on regional differences: They are recorded differentiated and form the basis for the connections between voter conduct, characteristics of social structure and historical-regional idiosyncracies). Topics: In particular the following characteristics on social structure were recorded: region, province/federal state (nominal), constituency size, eligible voters (in thousand), election turnout, votes cast in %, Protestant population proportion in %, Catholic population proportion in %, resident population (absolute), working population (absolute), agriculture, proportion of workers in %, industry/business, proportion of workers in %, trade/service, proportion of workers in %, city size < 2000, eligible voter proportion in %, city size 2000 to < 10000, eligible voter proportion in %, city size at least 10000, eligible voter proportion in %. Mit seiner Längsschnittstudie wird eine ´Globalanalyse´ für das gesamte Reich in seiner regionalen Vielfalt angestrebt, um auf der Grundlage statistisch gesicherter Basisinformationen zur Sozialstruktur Zusammenhänge zwischen regionalen Traditionen und politischer Situationen analysieren zu können. Dieser Zusammenhang läßt sich selbst in Phasen des raschen sozialen Wandels nur über einen langen Zeitraum hinweg verfolgen. Die von J. Schmädeke durchgeführten Analysen umfassen den Zeitraum der sechs Reichstagswahlen von 1890 bis 1912. Beschreibende Daten liegen in Form einer genauen Auszählung der Stimmen für die einzelnen Kandidaten und Parteien vor. Der Langzeitvergleich, der das gesamte Deutsche Reich in den Jahren 1890 bis 1912 umfasst (also die Epoche des ´Wilhelminischen Deutschland´), beruht auf den regionalen Unterschieden: Sie werden differenziert erfasst und bilden die Grundlage für die Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Wählerverhalten, Merkmalen der Sozialstruktur und den historisch-regionalen Besonderheiten). Themen: Im einzelnen wurden folgende Merkmale zur Sozialstruktur erfasst: Region, Provinz/Bundesstaat (nominal), Wahlkreisgröße, Wahlberechtigte (in Tausend), Wahlbeteiligung (abgegebene Stimmen in %), Evangelischer Bevölkerungsanteil in %, Katholischer Bevölkerungsanteil in %, Wohnhafte Bevölkerung (absolut), Berufstätige Bevölkerung (absolut), Landwirtschaft, Anteil der Erwerbstätigen in %, Industrie/Gewerbe, Anteil der Erwerbstätigen in %, Handel/Dienstleistung, Anteil der Erwerbstätigen in %, Ortsgröße < 2.000, Wahlberechtigtenanteil in %, Ortsgröße 2000 bis < 10.000, Wahlberechtigtenanteil in %, Ortsgröße mindestens 10.000, Wahlberechtigtenanteil in %. Evaluation of: Archive sources, general statistical works, bibliographies and methods, monographs, collections and essays, regions and constituencies. Auswertung von: Archivalische Quellen, Allgemeine statistische Werke, Bibliographien und Methoden, Monographien, Sammelwerke und Aufsätze, Regionen und Wahlkreise.

The results of the Reichstag elections of 1890, 1893, 1898, 1903, 1907 and 1912 were used to evaluate every single constituency.

Political situation in Germany. Attitudes towards political parties.

Topics: Turnout intention and voting intention (Sunday question); Alternative voting intention; other electable party: Pirate Party; other electable party: Free voters; voting behaviour in the last federal election in 2009 (recall); positive or negative association with terms (people´s party, compassion, conservative, christian, social, close to the economy, middle-class, liberal, opportunities, achievement, cohesion, freedom, security, stability, order, performance justice, social market economy, centre, qualified immigration, budget consolidation, freedom of choice for families, intelligent saving, respect, demographic change, values, tradition, home, trust); annoyance about political decisions; issues about which one was annoyed; affected by political decisions (current); decisions by which one was personally affected (current); positive or negative impact of the decision; affected by political decisions (prospective); decisions by which one will be personally affected (prospective); party with which one feels most comfortable; subjective affiliation with ´little people´.

Political positions (politics takes care of the problems of the little people, concern about limiting living standards, debt reduction to maintain prosperity, public debt is good if it is made for the future of the children, fear of going out alone in the evening, problems keeping up with the pace of everyday life, state support for those who are willing to perform, acceptance of the performance principle, people´s parties prevent the assertion of individual interests, 30 km/h speed limit in cities, support for large-scale projects); association of certain terms with parties (people´s party, modern, compassionate, conservative, christian, down-to-earth, social, close to the economy, middle-class, liberal, advancement, opportunities, achievement, cohesion, freedom, security, stability, order, performance fairness, future, social market economy, centre, prosperity, qualified immigration, budget consolidation, freedom of choice for families, intelligent savings, demographic change, values, tradition, home, good governance, expertise, cares for citizens, party for all, can move Germany forward, strong leadership, energetic, honest, reliable, credible, responsible, trust).

Demography: age; highest school-leaving qualification; intended school-leaving qualification, completed studies; completed apprenticeship; occupation; profession; household size; frequency of churchgoing; party identification (direction, strength, stability); sex.

Additionally coded were: Federal state; inhabitant of place of residence; target persons in the household; number of telephone numbers; indicator replenishment sample; weighting factors.

The Politbarometer series of German Election Studies has been administered monthly since 1977. Surveys were conducted only in West Germany until 1990, when East German Politbarometers were added to the series. The surveys are intended to assess the attitudes and opinions of eligible German voters on current events and problems, as well as on parties and politicians. In 1996, the surveys were united and were no longer designated as East or West. This data collection consists of a cumulative file of the monthly Politbarometer surveys for 1997. In these surveys, certain political questions were asked each month, while other topical questions were asked irregularly or only once. The following list of topics was derived from the summary appearing on the Web site of the Zentralarchiv fuer Empirische Sozialforschung an der Universitaet zu Koeln (English translation) at: http://www.za.uni-koeln.de/. (1) Topics consistently covered in monthly Politbarometer administrations include: voting intention and party preference - voting behavior in the last federal parliamentary elections - sympathy scale for the parties - satisfaction with democracy, the activities of the federal government, and opposition parties - interest of the respondent in politics and a self-assessed position on a left-right political continuum - assessment of the economic situation in the Federal Republic (and anticipated further development) and the respondent's own economic situation (and expected development) - the competence of the government and opposition parties in ensuring the security of jobs and pensions, and seeing to improvements in the economy and environmental protection - assessments of the reputations of party leaders - comparison of the social conditions of Germany with those of neighboring West European countries - attitude toward an increased acceptance of world political power through a united Germany - perceived military threats - assessment of the security of peace in Europe - attitude toward nuclear power - attitude toward German reunification - opinion on the right of asylum in Germany - general attitude toward foreigners - evaluation of different beliefs in relation to abortion - perceived advantages arising from membership in the European Union - assessment of the most important problem confronting the German Federal Republic. (2) Topics covered in this data collection that may be unique to this survey year include: opinions of various political parties, including the Freie Demokratische Partei or Liberal Democratic Party (FDP), the Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus or Democratic Socialist Party (PDS), the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands or Social Democratic Party (SPD), and the Green Party, currency stabilization and the new Euro - the financing of the present public health system - and labor issues such as work week length and solving the unemployment problem - the pension system and its continued financial viability - taxation policy and preferences for tax reform - crime - military intervention of the European Union in Albania - attitudes toward the National Socialist past - soccer broadcasts on television - the strikes and protests of students at German universities. Demographic information on respondents includes sex, age, marital status, household size and composition, education, occupation and employment status, religious preference, and trade union membership.

This study consists of a data pool of ten separate "Politbarometer" surveys that were conducted monthly by MARPLAN and organized by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen (Mannheim) as project leaders. The dataset integrates the separate surveys by coding the same question from each of the surveys under one variable. To also assure the continuity of this 1980 study with the German Electoral Data (GED) Project series, the studies for June, September and October were expanded to include questions relevant to the series, especially in eliciting information on party preference, the evaluation of leading politicians, and opinions about important political and social issues. Of particular note is the measurement of attitudes toward the political parties: several different measures were used to tap the various dimensions of party preference. Respondents were asked to separately evaluate each party and leading politicians, including the candidates for the position of Chancellor, Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt, and to place the political parties on several versions of the left-right ideological dimension. Another component of the election study dealt with the respondents' opinions toward important problems, including the salience of economic issues for the German population. Open-ended questions were asked concerning the respondents' views of the economic situation, the election campaigns, a new political party, the German democratic process, improved relations between East and West Germany, relations between Germany and the United States, and the reunification of Germany. Respondents were also asked about the most important tasks facing Germany and the party that could best deal with these tasks, the reasons for the electoral outcome for each party, and respondents' political participation and voting decisions during the election campaign. Also probed were respondents' views of their financial situation, the efficacy of old-age pensions, nuclear power plants, church and politics, and labor unions, and their feelings about Germany's participation in the Olympic Games, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the potential for a superpower war, the Iran hostage crisis, and the proposed economic boycott against Iran. Additional items queried respondents about their general political activities and voting behavior and intentions. Also explored were respondents' views of divorce, tolerance of opposing views, leisure time activities, and experience of stress situations. Demographic items specify age, sex, education, marital status, occupation, military status, income, union membership, political party affiliation, and religious preference. See also the related collection, GERMAN ELECTION PANEL STUDY, 1976 (ICPSR 7513). (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)

These are vote shares of Union-FDP, calculated based on a pooled survey (at each date pooled sample was calculated based on aggregation of polls from different German pollsters). For each date this data set provides a subset of 500 simulations from a Dirichlet distribution, which is the (Bayesian) Posterior distribution of a Multinomial Likelihood (pooled survey) and a uninformative (flat) Dirichlet-Prior. Each simulation provides a possible election outcome. The vote shares provided here are based on "redistributed votes" (i.e. votes of parties below 5% threshold are redistributed proportionally to parties above the 5% threshold).

Valid first votes, valid second votes (General Federal Election Statistics): Germany, cut-off date, parties

Abstract (en): This panel study provides data on attitudes and electoral behavior during the 1987 German federal election campaign. Panel respondents were surveyed in two pre-election waves and one post-election wave. Topics covered in the study include respondent evaluations of the political parties and party leaders, assessments of personal and national economic conditions, and attitudes on various public issues. Demographic information on respondents also was gathered. German citizens over age 18 residing in private households. West Berlin was excluded. Stratified multistage random sample. Produced by the Zentralarchiv fuer Empirische Sozialforschung, Cologne, Germany, 1990.

We examine whether electoral preferences depend on a community's population size, studying post-WWII Baden-Württemberg in Southwest Germany. Our identification strategy exploits the fact that the French administration zone prohibited German expellees from entering, contrary to the contiguous American zone. Population size positively predicts voting for the Social Democrats (the party advocating substantial government involvement in practically all domains) and negatively predicts voting for the Christian Democrats (the small-government party advocating free-market policies). Results are neither driven by pre-existing voting patterns, religious compositions, location- and time-specific unobservables nor other measurable cultural, demographic, economic or political characteristics. Alternative explanations pertaining to expellee voting behavior or a backlash of natives against expellees appear unlikely -- population size prevails as a predominant voting predictor. (2023-05-15).

Already in an early study about the connection between school education and voting behavior in Prussia during the German Empire (see the study of Monika Wölk: “Der preußische Volksschulabsolvent als Reichstagswähler 1871 – 1912“, GESIS Archiv-Nr.: ZA8482) the author of the present study used school generation specific voting behavior as a methodological construct to determine the impact of school education on the voter´s decisions at the Reich elections. The investigation, sponsored by the German research community (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)), about the voter’s generations in Prussia between the German Empire and the Republic is based on this previous work. School generations, defined as graduates of the elementary school in a specific area shaped by specific school-political principles in Prussia, build voting groups within the Prussian voting population. The author inspects their voting motivation concerning continuity or discontinuity in the transition from the authoritarian German Empire to the democratic Republic of Germany and investigates it with her special research question and methodological approach. In the first part of the study the author combines the social-historical quantitative preparation of the material of the age statistics of the population in the chosen research areas with the systematic qualitative analysis of historical educational prerequisites of those parts of population. The school generations (after years of birth) are classified after collective school periods of the elementary school graduates (Volksschulabsolventen (SchVA)): SchVA 1816-1840: “Time of reform“, SchVA 1840 – 1847: “before march“ SchVA 1847 – 1854: „Revolution 1848“, SchVA 1854 – 1872: „Regulative“, SchVA 1872 - 1879: „Falk“, SchVA 1879 – 1892: „Puttkammer“, SchVA 1892 – 1899: „Bosse“, SchVA 1899 – 1918: „1900“, SchVA 1918 – 1927: „Weimar“. In the second part of the study the author continues with considerations and models for the interpretation of the structural changes in the system of political parties from the authoritarian society of the German Empire to the pluralistic, parliamentary presidential governed democracy of the Weimar Republic. In the presentation of the competing models of historical and political-sociological research the author constructs a basis for rating the question on which grid of political directions the voting behavior at the Reich elections before and after the First World War could be based. The comparative trend analysis of school time-stamped generation groups and their voting decisions presented in the third part of the study verifies the work of the second part about the developed models of party systems and its consistency for the generation specific development of the voting population. The voting behavior is broken down into two major alternative parties: The “Reich faithful’s” and the “enemies of the Reich” in the German Empire and the left-right dichotomy as a reverse equivalent of opposition and governmentalism in the Weimar Republic. Data Tables in HISTATA. Tables from the text part (Average values of chosen administrative districts, for each administrative district see the tables of the appendix under part B)A.01a Proportion of school generations of the population over 25 or 20 years (1871-1933)A.01b Proportion of generation groups in the voting population over 25 or 20 years (1871-1933)A.02a Voting behavior after discontinuity models of the German party system – model A (1871-1933)A.02b Voting behavior after discontinuity models of the German party system – model B (1871-1933)A.03 Voting behavior in the left-right continuum of the Protestant party system (1871-1933)A.04 Voting behavior in the polarity of governmentalism and opposition (1871-1933)A.05 Youth generations and voting behavior (1919-1933)A.06 Left parties of the Weimar Republic and the generation group “reaction” (1919 – 1933)A.07a Administrative district of Gumbinen: Votes by left-right polarity and generation groups (1871-1933)A.07b Administrative district of Allenstein: Votes by left-right polarity and generation groups (1919-1933)A.07c Berlin: Votes by left-right polarity and generation groups (1871-1933)A.08 School generations and left-liberal voting potential, Berlin and administrative district Liegnitz (1871-1933) B. Tables from the data appendixB.I. Proportion of school generations of the population over 25 years or 20 years in selected Prussian administrative districtsB.II. Election results of the German Reich election in selected Prussian administrative districtsB.III Votes by left-right polarity and generation groups in selected Prussian administrative districts Register of the tables in HISTAT: A. Tables from the text part(Average values of chosen administrative districts, for each administrative district see the tables of the appendix under part B).A.01a Proportion of school generations of the population over 25 or 20 years (1871-1933)A.01b Proportion of generation groups in the v...

For the Konrad Adenauer Foundation´s Department of Politics and Consultancy, Ipsos conducted a representative multi-topic survey among the German voting population aged 18 and over. The focus of the survey was to determine opinions and attitudes on various political topics.

Topics: The future of Germany, Concerns and trust in Germany, Social and cultural identity and security: particularly important aspects of what makes us in Germany (open, three mentions); assignment of various terms rather as something good, rather as something bad or ignorance of the meaning of the term (split half, 10 terms each: Opportunity Republic of Germany, Lifelong Learning, Black Zero, Personal Responsibility, Video Surveillance, Cold Progression, Middle Class Belly, Promote and Demand, Reliable State, Security, Spousal Splitting, Guiding Culture, Strong State, Responsibility, Social Market Economy, Prosperity, Solid Finances, Tax Justice, Consolidation Course, Flexi Pension); personally most important topic (open); most important topic for Germany´s future (open); assessment of Germany´s preparation for the future based on school grades; worries about Germany and trust in Germany based on opposing statements (often fear of what will come vs. everything will be fine, if possible no change vs. further development for prosperity, see black for Germany vs. trust in Germany); respondent strongly agrees or somewhat agrees with the statement; agree with statements on social, cultural identity and security (All in all, I´m doing well, can live well on my pension, must not forget socially weaker people in Germany, own job is secure, politicians don´t think about people like me, you can live well in Germany, family is where parents take responsibility for children, people who have no right to stay here must be consistently sent back, those who want to live here must adapt to German culture, respect for each other has been lost in our society, I´m afraid that Germany will change too much because of immigration, the state has the refugee crisis under control, you can no longer say what you actually think).

Digitalisation: Attitude towards digitalisation (in Germany, digitalisation will create new jobs, endangers jobs, makes work easier, self-driving cars will increase road safety, technology has become so complicated that I often don´t know how to use it, technology will help me to continue living independently in old age, desire for more help in everyday life through technical innovations); security: Opinion on the topic of security (enforce the law much more harshly, harsher punishments for many crimes, as a woman you can no longer go out alone on the street at night, more video surveillance in public, fear chaotic conditions in Germany); open mention of the feared chaotic conditions in Germany.

Political parties and voting intention: Party (CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Die Linke, NPD, Piratenpartei, AfD -Alternative für Deutschland, other party) to which various characteristics can most likely be assigned (Christian party, party of the centre, conservative party, solves problem, can be trusted in the future, people´s party, social, protects citizens from crime, moderate, able to compromise, reasonable) and importance that the party has this characteristic; Left-right self-rating; left-right rating of the aforementioned parties; voting behaviour in the last five years (second vote); voting behaviour in the last election in which the respondent participated; Importance of various reasons for voting for this party (party has good politicians, party can be trusted in principle, party offers good solutions, was pissed off at another party/parties, always vote for this party, vote for another party every time, party knows what people like me think, wanted to show the other parties, party is setting the right course for the future); parties considered in principle; likelihood of voting for this party in the next election; party preference in the next federal election (Sunday question).

Demography: Sex; age (year of birth or age groups; education: highest school-leaving qualification; occupation or activity if not in employment; occupational status; denomination (religious denomination); frequency of churchgoing; household size; number of persons in the household aged 18 and over;

Additionally coded: Respondent ID; weighting factor; Interview date; Interview duration; city size (BIK and political city size); Information for dual-frame w...