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Nearly 50 percent of Germans expect the far-right AfD 'to be part of the government by 2030'

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Nearly 50 percent of Germans expect the far-right AfD 'to be part of the government by 2030'
Lower Saxony, Braunschweig: The logo of the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is printed on a display. Source: DPA

Despite attempts to constrain the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), almost every second German (48 percent) expects the party to be involved in a state or even federal government within the next ten years.

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Despite attempts to constrain the rise of the AfD, almost every second German (48 percent) expects the party to be involved in a state or even federal government within the next ten years.

This statistic has emerged from a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf DPA. Only 29 percent of those surveyed do not see the AfD assuming a governmental position by 2030.

READ ALSO: 'It's unforgivable': Why Merkel and Germany are up in arms after shock far-right vote

Last week in Thuringia, the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich was the first prime minister to be elected with the aid of AfD votes, triggering a nationwide political earthquake and fueling the debate on how to deal with the AfD.

According to the YouGov survey, a quarter of Germans (26 percent) are okay with the AfD participating in a state government and 19 percent would have no objection to the AfD participating at the German federal government level. However, a clear majority of 59 percent fundamentally rejects the idea of the right-wing party being part of the government.

Fifty-four percent of those questioned said that the scandal in Thuringia has damaged their confidence in democracy. Thirty-four percent see the AfD as the main beneficiary of the election, with the Left (Die Linke) 10 percent behind. All the other parties (CDU, SPD, FDP and the Greens) were considered by only three or four percent of those questioned to have benefitted from Kemmerich's choice.

READ ALSO: Merkel's conservatives in turmoil after far-right vote debacle in eastern German state

The vote was equally clear on the question of whom the scandal hurt the most: 28 percent chose the FDP and 26 percent the CDU. The AfD was a long way behind with only six percent, the left with four percent and the SPD and Greens with two percent each.

From the February 7th-9th, YouGov interviewed 2074 people over the age of 18. The survey took place before the announcement that the CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer would not be running for chancellor.

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