Voter Polarisation in Germany: Unpolarised Western but Polarised Eastern Germany?

ABSTRACT

Recently, the concept of polarisation has experienced a considerable upturn and made its way into the public debate. As far as the German case goes, it has been argued that the electorate is becoming increasingly polarised and that a rift is running through society. The tendency is said to be particularly pronounced in the eastern part of the country, as can be deduced from the electoral successes of the Left Party and the AfD. This paper empirically tests this argument on the basis of ALLBUS data in the period since reunification. Using in particular the left-right self-placement and in addition three policy items connected with the GAL-TAN dimension as measures for ideological preferences, it appears that no conclusive evidence for this hypothesis can be found – neither in Eastern nor Western Germany. Yet, the findings are different with regard to the policy issue of immigration. Here, a clear antagonism between supporters and opponents of immigration can be identified. Based on the overall findings, it would, however, be a misconception to conclude that the German electorate is polarised. On the contrary, looking at the different developments in Western and Eastern Germany, in recent years a tendency toward a belated ideological unification has become apparent.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Due to limitations of space this result is only reported and not visualised.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jörg Hebenstreit

Jörg Hebenstreit is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Political Science at the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena (Germany) and holds a PhD (University of Jena) in Political Science. His doctoral thesis dealt with the issue of campaign finance in the United States and its influence on the outcome of elections as well as the overall political system. Among his further research interests are non-majoritarian and technocratic institutions, party system research and responsiveness.