3D illustration, The parties in Germany in the shadow of the AfD

März 2023 | Violeta I. Haas, Lukas F. Stoetzer, Petra Schleiter and Heike Klüver

Which issues can democratic parties effectively use to counter the AfD?

We investigated whether democratic parties can win back voters from right-wing populist parties through targeted campaigns. Based on a survey experiment conducted with 3,000 citizens during the 2021 federal election in Germany, we demonstrated that democratic parties can reclaim voters from the AfD by strategically highlighting so-called “wedge issues.” Wedge issues are topics where AfD voters hold different positions than the right-wing populists, such as social housing or welfare state policies.

Photo: DesignRage / Shutterstock / 3D illustration, The parties in Germany in the shadow of AfD

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