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Young women (in Heidelberg): Most important to young voters are climate protection and education (symbol photo)
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
When the FDP announced in autumn 2020 that it would support the demand for nationwide voting rights from the age of 16, CDU Economics Minister Peter Altmaier acknowledged this on Twitter with the words: “You are simply the best election workers for the Greens you can imagine! !! «The fear of the CDU / CSU: Young people tend to vote liberally rather than conservatively, preferring green to black.
In fact, this fear seems to be unfounded. Because the Conservatives and their candidate for Chancellor Armin Laschet are apparently more popular with young voters than one would expect in the CDU / CSU itself. That is at least suggested by a representative survey by the communications agency Fischer-Appelt in collaboration with the market research institute Appinio. In the »Teengeist« survey, young people between the ages of 16 and 24 are regularly asked about their living environment - including political issues and preferences.
It shows: Among the respondents, the Union is the strongest force, 26 percent would vote for it.
This puts the CDU / CSU six percentage points ahead of the Greens.
The FDP would land at 14 percent, the SPD at eleven.
Left and AfD would each achieve six percent.
In addition, many young people would not vote for any of the established parties: around 18 percent would choose a small party instead.
In the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD also received many votes from young voters.
The representative survey shows, however, that this trend does not seem to apply across Germany.
With six percent of the respondents, the AfD is only slightly above the five percent threshold and thus well below its current survey values.
Not only on the Sunday issue does the Union do better than the Greens and the SPD.
When it comes to personnel, too, she comes in ahead of her competitors.
The most popular top candidate among the young people surveyed is Armin Laschet with 17 percent.
Annalena Baerbock (Greens) follows closely behind with 15 percent, SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz ends up being beaten at nine percent.
The survey also shows, however, that more than one in three young people cannot or does not want to commit themselves and does not have a preferred top candidate.
This is also due to the fact that many do not know the candidates: Among the respondents, 23 percent have nothing to do with Armin Laschet, 36 percent do not know Annalena Baerbock.
Olaf Scholz cannot assign 35 percent of the young voters.
The vast majority would like to use their voice anyway.
Almost half of all respondents are eligible to vote and would like to vote on September 26th.
Only ten percent want to stay at home on election day, 15 percent are not yet sure.
Most important to young voters are climate protection and education.
These topics landed in the survey at 40 and 38 percent.
The high level of support for the Union compared to the Greens is surprising: The young generation no longer seems to automatically associate climate protection with Annalena Baerbock's party.
But the parties will also have to have other issues on the list if they want to win over the younger generation.
Older young voters between the ages of 22 and 24, for example, are more interested in the labor market, which more than a quarter see as central.
A little more than a quarter of those surveyed also see equality as a crucial issue.
However, there is a particularly clear difference between the sexes: Almost 40 percent of the women surveyed declared equality to be a crucial issue, compared with 15 percent for men.
Refugee and European policy seem to be rather unpopular, ending up in the lower ranks and seen as decisive by only 16 and 12 percent.
Despite the clear preferences, it will be a challenge for the parties to reach young people.
Because: Half of the young people state that they do not consume any political content at all.
Only 13 percent of those surveyed are actively looking for political content.
If you do come across political content, this is mainly done via the social networks YouTube, Instagram or TikTok.
When asked, the young people could indicate several media.
Television also does well.
Almost half of all respondents between the ages of 16 and 24 find out about politics there.
The younger generation seems to unite many contradictions.
She sees climate protection as the most important issue, but sympathizes more with the Union than with the Greens.
She rarely actively consumes political content and still wants to vote.