Germany’s two leading authoritarian liberal politcal parties have proven that they are no longer fit for purpose
Mathew D. Rose is an Investigative Journalist specialised in Organised Political Crime in Germany and an editor of BRAVE NEW EUROPE
Photo: Screen Grab
These are ominous days for psephologists in Germany. In the near future these pollsters will have to confirm the collapse of Germany’s two legacy “People’s Parties”: the Christian Democrats (CDU) 1 and Social Democrats (SPD). Following the war these two parties dominated West German politics and later in reunified Germany, with at least one of them always leading the government. These only two “People’s Parties” (Volkspartei) claimed broad support across various social classes, regions, and generations. They also boasted large memberships. The glory days are however gone.
From 1953 until 1998 the CDU always received over 40 percent of votes in general elections. From 1998 until 2021 they were still always above 30 percent. The SPD was constantly above 30 percent from 1957 until 2009, sometimes surpassing 40 percent. Recently this has changed. Since the 2021 general election the CDU has remained under 30 percent, while the SPD dropped below 30 percent since 2009 and even collapsed below 20 percent in the most recent general election of 2025. Today together they hardly have 35 percent of the votes according to recent polls – and that is declining.
Results of German general elections 1949 – 2025
With regard to party memberships, the two parties have not fared better. Starting with 1990, the year of reunification when membership was its highest, the CDU has since lost almost half its members, the SPD over 60 percent. Furthermore the membership numbers are often cast into doubt as being overstated.
Currently both parties have their lowest post war poll ratings. On average the CDU lies at round 22 percent, the SPD at 12 percent. Both of these are continuously falling further, so it is just a matter of time until the CDU will fall under 20 percent and the SPD under 10%, especially as their voters tend to be over sixty years old and mortality plays a major role.
As much of the polling income of such agencies comes from the public sector or media with a political agenda, being the bearer of this bad news can have negative financial consequences. Procrastination by the pollsters will not be the solution as dramatic election results will be coming in in September. In that month three of Germany’s federal states will be holding elections: Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, and Berlin. All three of these federal states have always had coalition governments led by the CDU or SPD. This is set to change
In the former East Germany the West German legacy parties are losing their relevance. In all five Eastern federal states the far right AfD (not much further right than the CDU and Greens) is currently polling between 35 and 42 percent. In none of these do the CDU or SPD together have 30 Percent with the exception of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania.
So why is this happening? The answer is simple and plagues all Western nations: neo-liberalism. Add to this a thoroughly corrupt and inept political class as well as its nihilistic moral collapse and you have the perfect recipe for political unrest.
Neo-liberalism has caused the decline in the German economy and social system. Real wage growth has been anaemic, while inequality has skyrocketed. At the same time state investment has stagnated thanks to the much hailed inane project, the debt-break, while the private sector has radically reduced its investment (25 percent in the past five years alone), as many companies preferred investing in nations with low labour costs or share buy-backs and financial investments.
The fiscal problems of the German government has been egregiously aggravated by enormous tax reductions for companies and the wealthy, also resulting in great increases in inequality. The welfare state has been cut back massively – a process that is increasing in pace – while infrastructure has deteriorated dramatically.
It is no longer a secret that the German economy is de-industrialising. Volkswagen recently announced that it will be cutting 100,000 of its round 650,000 strong German workforce and is planning close four of its factories in Germany. A day later Bosch, the world’s largest automotive supplier, announced plans to cut 3,800 jobs in Germany. One must remember that the automotive sector makes up nearly 10% of Germany’s GDP. Other industries that are contracting or leaving Germany are chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The number of companies closing down in Germany, many due to insolvency, keeps rising unabated. In June of this year it reached a 22 year high.
The German political class was able to effectively distract from its neo-liberal offensive by mobilising the nation behind the NATO proxy war in Ukraine. It succeeded by once again resurrecting the thousand year old hatred that White Germans have for Slavs, which has morphed into Russophobia, especially among the Professional Managerial Caste. That however lost momentum and many Germans raised the question: why are we giving so much money to Ukraine, but have no money for us? Then came the Zionist Nazi genocide in Gaza. If there is one thing behind which White Germans can unite behind, it is genocide against dark-skinned peoples (untermenschen). All political parties in the Bundestag support the genocide in Gaza, which they see as an element of their Staatsräson (Reason of State). German’s current chancellor, Friedrich Merz, even threw himself wholeheartedly behind the first unprovoked war of the Zionist Nazi state against Iran in June 2025, thanking the Zionists for doing Germany’s “dirty work” for it. That quickly dissipated when Merz noticed that the Jewish State, as White Germans refer to occupied Palestine, was losing the war. But the genocide, war crimes, and hate that the White Germans are enjoying does not reduce their angst.
In the end it always comes back to “Its about the economy, stupid” and the Germans are increasingly fearful of losing the social security they once enjoyed, ending up like the US. The newest “Reform Policies” proposed by the CDU and SPD are a fillip in the dismantling of social benefits.
After the economic fiasco of the traffic signal coalition (SPD, Greens, Liberals) Germans hoped that Merz and the CDU would be a safe pair of hands. Instead they have the “Depp der Nation” (the Moron of the Nation), Merz. Like so many other leaders in Europe Merz was only concerned about obtaining power. He had no serious plans to solve Germany’s problems, which would entail a break with the neo-liberal policies dictated and paid for by oligarchs and corporations. His last throw of the dice is to make Germany the most powerful military nation in Western Europe. He believes that with the nostrum Military Keynesianism he will solve all his economic and political problems. Closed German car factories will be re-opened to build tanks and military vehicles and the Germans will bask in their re-discovered militarism. All this will be financed with massive deficits and cuts in welfare, education, and health. Merz’s principle campaign promise was not to increase the deficit. He has abandoned principle for power. Voters wanted leadership, but once again received fraud, as the German government is solely in the service of the oligarchs and corporations.
Apparently a people cannot live from genocides, war crimes, militarisation, and hate alone – not even the White Germans. Thus it is of no surprise that the voters are leaving the Christian and Social Democrats in droves. Not that the AfD will be any different. It is without a doubt a dyed in the wool neo-liberal party. Its rough edges concerning criticism of the Ukraine war and NATO as well as “immigrants out” are disappearing as corporations are buying influence in the party. They need the proxy war in Ukraine, a gold rush for the German military-industrial complex, providing them with hundreds of millions of euros in profits. German businesses depend on cheap immigrant labour. The AfD, in preparation to becoming a ruling party is already adopting the policies of the German mainstream.
As I repeatedly write, White Germans do not vote for a party, but against a party. To show their dissatisfaction with the current Christian and Social Democrat government, many will vote for the AfD, only to discover that they have elected the Christian Democrats with different names and faces.
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The current situation in the three upcoming September state elections:
In Saxony-Anhalt according to a poll from 3 July the CDU would only muster 23 percent of the vote and the SPD 6 percent. A party needs at least 5 percent of the vote to enter parliament, so it is unsure if the SPD will be represented. The CDU has led coalition governments since 2002 here, but as you can see in the graphic below, the far-right AfD will probably be able to form a government on its own after the upcoming election.
In Mecklenburg -West Pomerania the situation is similar as seen in this poll from 9 July:
There the SPD has led coalition governments since 2002. In the previous state election the SPD had almost 40 percent of the votes. The CDU has also lost round a quarter of its voters since the previous state election in 2021. The question is how far the two people’s parties appeal will further deteriorate in the next two and a half months?
Berlin is politically a very mixed state. According to the most recent poll from 1 July four parties lie between 17 and 20 percent: The Left (Linke) Greens, AfD, and CDU. The SPD is a distant fifth.
West-Berlin and later re-united Berlin have always had coalition governments led by the CDU or SPD.
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1 For convenience sake I have left out the CDU sister-party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) that only exists in Bavaria, where the CDU isn’t. Together they are called the Christian Union.
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