Opinion of Die Linke-AfD voters

[I Stand With TRKL1917]

Based on my research of the German election swings from 2013 to 2017, there were clearly a lot of these considering the huge swings among the unemployed and in the eastern states. Probably more common than Obama-Trump voters, even given that a lot of the AfD surge in the east was among former NPD voters and non-voters, the decline in Die Linke support implies that a lot of those migrated to the AfD.

[Goldwater]

I probably would disagree with most of their views.

[Hope For A New Era]

A depressingly familiar political character arc.

[Middle-aged Europe]

If you go by the 2013/17 elections, the Left lost indeed most votes to the AfD, although these losses were more than compensated by gains from the SPD:




The AfD on the other hand gained mostly from previous non-voters, followed by the CDU, then "other" (smaller) parties, then the SPD, and then from the Left:






If you look at how the 2017 voters changed their voting behavior in the 2019 European Parliament election a somewhat different picture emerges though.

Here, the Left mostly lost to non-voters, followed by the Greens, "other" parties, and then the SPD.




And the AfD gained most from the CDU, followed by the FDP, and then the Left, with losses going mostly to non-voters and - with a huge gap - "other" parties.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Voter movement in the 2019 Saxony election (compared to the 2014 Saxony election) was somewhat similar to the 2013/17 Bundestag elections except there was less of a barrier between Left/CDU.


Left lost to AfD and CDU in almost equal quantities, followed by the Greens. Moderate gains from previous non-voters.




AfD mirrors the change in the 2013/17 Bundestag elections, with most gains coming previous non-voters, followed by CDU, then "other" parties, and then the Left.

[Red Velvet]

I understand them, but personally I wouldn’t support AfD in Germany.

It’s a common trend in Europe to see people who voted for communists in the past and even some who identify as such supporting the far-right these days.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Would be Hilarious People if AfD weren't ... you know ...

[Derpist]

If I were German, I would be a Die Linke-AFD voter, insofar that I'd protest vote AFD if Die Linke was banned or something.

AFD is not my cup of tea, but coming from a fellow post-Communist ethnic group also raped by Western capitalism, they have my sympathies.

I definitely spent a few years very engaged in the far-right before I discovered leftists who called out liberals. Now I kind of see their views as often silly, but do appreciate their hard work in so often being the only people in certain countries (euch as American's excrepable political spectrum) to call out the global liberal establishment.

[Former President tack50]

#populist

[At-Large Senator LouisvilleThunder]

I  #populism!

[President Johnson]

Massive HP

[Middle-aged Europe]

To answer the question at hand myself, I think over the years I knew only one person which fell into the "Left-AfD voter" category and that one always came across as a bit dumb and superficial (the term "reality TV binge watcher" also comes to mind here). I was able to kind of tolerate the dumbness and superficiality of that person until the gradual switch from Left to AfD in fact occurred. This included sharing anti-immigrant "jokes"originally posted by ex-NPD officials on Facebook and when I called said person out on that one the reaction amounted to something like: who cares, calm the f**k down.

[Santander]

Massive FFs.

[Senator Incitatus]

Someone in Germany should come up with a party that mixes the socialist and nationalist elements of these two into one.

[jaymichaud]

Isn’t this just East German boomers?

[Samof94]

Isn’t this just East German boomers?

Of course. They seem like the obvious candidates.

[S019]

Anyone who votes for the AfD is a massive HP