German Elections & Politics

[DavidB.]

I just made a compilation of the questions German voters ask Google. Especially liked the ones for the Greens. "Warum sind die Grünen gegen Deutschland?"

[DavidB.]

iSideWith is complete garbage outside the U.S. Should Swaziland engage in a military campaign to oust Kim Jong-Un?

[DavidB.]

A minority government relying on tacit AfD support is really not happening; viewing political competition as right vs. left isn't helpful if the center-right hate the far-right more than the center-left.

[DavidB.]

If Jamaika and the Wiz Khalifa option prove to be impossible, a new Groko will be formed anyway. The responsibility argument will make the SPD do it.

[DavidB.]

CDU-CSU 38%
SPD 19%
AfD 13%
Linke 10%
FDP 8%
Greens 7%

[DavidB.]

AfD campaigning in Russian. A wonderful step of inclusivity towards Germans with a migration background.

[DavidB.]

There was a TV debate this Thursday where AfD lead candidate Alexander Gauland flat-out admitted that his party doesn't really have a position on pensions because the two wings in his party hold diametrically opposed views on the issue. The AfD is solely held together by their opposition to immigration, Angela Merkel, "political correctness", and the "mainstream media". If they ever had to to govern, they'd probably split into two distinct political parties very quickly... a more "libertarian" one, and a more economically populist one.

As if this matters. They are not going to govern, and everybody knows it.

[DavidB.]

Very interesting that all these elected MPs suddenly decide, one day after the election, that they cannot support the ideas propagated by their party leaders.

[DavidB.]

I agree. The only way in the future for an SPD chancellor will be SPD-Greens-Linke or SPD-Linke if the greens fall below 5%

Because every election will be like 2017

[DavidB.]

CSU appears to be softening on the refugee cap, with some stating it was never intended for people whose asylum applications are actually approved. Of course none of this makes any sense, seeing as this kind of cap would only work if you actually stopped an influx at the border in order to not overwhelm the country. But you can't do a thorough check at the border so what's the point in having a cap then?

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/streit-ueber-fluechtlingspolitik-es-ging-nie-um-eine-obergrenze-fuer-die-tatsaechlich-asylberechtigten-15235196.html

Well, anyway...this could make next year's Bavarian state elections rather interesting.

Hahahaha, they will get destroyed in the state election if they take place in the coalition as "thank you master" for Merkel again, without Obergrenze. Just what they deserve.

[DavidB.]

Shame Linke didn't get in. Red-red-green would've been decent.

 
Die Linke in Lower Saxony is like a personal cult around Dietmar Dehm who is the living embodiment of the horseshoe theory.

That sounds pretty cool?

[DavidB.]

^ Spahn is mvd10's dreamlad, not mine...

Thanks for the interesting update!

[DavidB.]

I wanted Cem Özdemir on Foreign Affairs

[DavidB.]

Any news? Wasn't the deadline, like, six minutes ago?

[DavidB.]

Positively surprised by the FDP, though I doubt their voters will appreciate it. But they may in the long run, and Germany needs a right-wing party in opposition that is not the AfD. Hope this will also mean Merxit.

[DavidB.]

Germany's FDP would support a minority Merkel government, Bild reports,

The question is whether they would also provide support for a minority coalition of CDU/CSU and the Greens.

[DavidB.]

I feel it's going to be an AfD-Linke Nazbol coalition with Green/CSU outside support.

[DavidB.]

Doesn't seem as if the CDU have made many policy concessions at all. They just gave the SPD some good positions.

How is Scholz? Will he be like Dijsselbloem?

[DavidB.]

We're far from a election right now which means they're in standard troll mode at the moment.

Cognitive dissonance at work.

[DavidB.]

But but muh INSA conspiracy; ahkhkchually the SPD are leading the polls right now

[DavidB.]

YouGov are also far-right meanies!

[DavidB.]

And last but not least: The trustworthiness of certain countries; it's the first time that the Germans consider the USA less reliable than Russia:

Dutch pollster peil.nl did this too. Trustworthiness by country: Germany 87%, UK 75%, France 72%, U.S. 39%, China 33%, Russia 13%. So the Dutch public clearly trusts France and Russia much less than the German public, but is more positive about the U.S. No surprise at all, but still interesting.

[DavidB.]

Sweden all over again. Two years from now INSA will have AfD at 25% and people in this thread will insist that it's really, really 20%.

[DavidB.]

I'm such a political and psephologist nerd that I first thought those were the poll numbers for the SPD in the Schröder era...

Ostfriesland should be among his best regions though, not his worst -- big giveaway!

[DavidB.]

YouGov's AfD numbers for 2021, I guess.

Come to think of it, it probably indicates the year to which AfD members in these regions want to go back.