The CDU saw 1.3 million voters defect from the Social Democratic Party

Germany seems to have bid farewell to the era of great people’s parties. This is already evidenced by an extensive study by the Forschungsgruppe research office, which specializes in election analytics. The office organized a poll of 41,373 voters on election day.

CDU/CSU Christian Democrats and SPD won less than 50 percent of the vote in the last Bundestag elections. When Angela Merkel took office in 2005, that was still more than three-quarters of the total. And in the 1950s and 1960s, the two parties shared 90% of the vote between them.

The color of the party scene is redder on the map of Germany on Sunday, at least when it comes to the position according to the results for each constituency. The state is divided into 299 districts, each of which sends a representative to Berlin. Whoever gets the most votes is guaranteed a place in the Bundestag.

Outside the black (CDU/CSU) and red (SPD) provinces, the light blue color of the radical right AfD in the former GDR is particularly striking. In Thuringia and Saxony, the party became the largest political formation. Die Linke also scored well in East Germany, but only managed to win three constituencies.

In addition to voting for a candidate, voters are entitled to vote for the party. Next, it is seen that CDU/CSU loses in all 299 districts. At the other end of the spectrum are the Greens, who have gained in almost all districts.

Analysis of the election results also shows that the CDU/CSU saw 1.3 million voters deviate from the SPD. 900,000 voters crossed to the Green Party and 340,000 to the Free Democratic Party. This negates popular criticism that Merkel left a hole on the right in her central trajectory, thus giving the AfD in its sails.

The picture is distorted by the dominance of older voters. Most Germans who went to the polls on Sunday are over 60 years old. And in that group, the CDU/CSU and SPD party remained dominant, at 34 and 35 percent, respectively. The rest of the parties are Lilliputians with a share of less than 10 per cent.

The younger the electorate, the lower the chance for the two classics. Contrary to popular wisdom, younger voters do not automatically vote left. The strong result of the liberal FDP is astonishing, tempting nearly a fifth of voters in the up-to-29 category. The Greens are the leaders in this group at 22 percent.

But for “Neuwähler,” who were allowed to choose for the first time, the FDP takes the cake at 23 percent, versus 22 percent for greens. And as a reminder: Sunday there were fewer than 1.2 million voters, which hurt the traditional parties, and the CDU/CSU was in the lead.

The Liberals and Greens also did well among the educated, with clear progress for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen. On the other hand, Social Democrats and Christian Democrats see their electorate shrink as voters get higher scores.

Further analysis by the weekly Der Spiegel gives us a breakdown of the votes according to population density. Not surprisingly, the greens score mainly in densely populated areas, read: cities. On the other hand, the far-right AfD scored above average in rural areas. The party is particularly strong in the often desolate east of Germany.