Causes of growing voter fatigue in Germany

Citizens in Germany no longer believe politicians' campaign promises. Trust in reliability is waning. And dissatisfaction with politicians and parties is increasing across the board. Almost three-quarters of the German population now cite dissatisfaction with politicians and parties as the reason for their growing voter apathy (2002: 591 – 2009: 731). And well over two-thirds of German citizens (2002: 501 – 2009: 681) are convinced that they are being "lied to by campaign promises." This is according to representative surveys conducted by the BAT Foundation for Future Issues, in which 2,000 people in Germany were asked about the causes of voter apathy and political disillusionment.

„For most German citizens, politicians are no longer reliable partners,“ says Prof. Dr. Horst W. Opaschowski, the foundation’s academic director. „The saying ‚As promised – so broken’ is threatening to become the norm in everyday politics, according to the public. A loss of trust is the consequence. And swing voters and protest voters are on the rise.“ Clearly, many politicians no longer represent any values. The public’s assessment of politicians„ role as role models is particularly damning: For almost two-thirds of the population (2002: 421,000 – 2009: 611,000), one thing is certain: “Politicians are no longer moral role models.„ Professor Opaschowski adds: “Thus, voter apathy can also be an expression of disillusionment with politicians, because they appear interchangeable and less and less representative of a specific political direction.”

The question of why young voters, especially those under 24, no longer vote is now answered by one in two young voters (2002: 351 – 2009: 531) by stating that "no party meets their expectations" and that it hardly matters whether they vote or not because their vote "has no influence" anyway (2002: 331 – 2009: 521). It is therefore hardly surprising that political interest among young people continues to decline and now encompasses almost half of all young voters (2002: 431 – 2009: 471). The proportion of young voters who no longer trust politicians' campaign promises has increased dramatically (2002: 401 – 2009: 651). Foundation director Opaschowski: „It’s no wonder that the younger generation is increasingly abstaining from voting when election promises are bordering on broken. Many young voters no longer have, or can find, a political home. Therefore, they either stay away from the polls or tend to vote for just any political party.“ This loss of voter trust could, in the long run, also lead to a loss of legitimacy for the parties.