Although a huge percentage of workers in Germany voted for the far-right AfD, it is clear that the AfD's economic and social-political views are anything but pro-worker.
In the last Bundestag elections Alternative for Germany (AfD) for the first time it became the strongest party among workers. According to public opinion polls, between 30 and 38 percent of workers voted for the AfD.
University of Belgrade study Tübingen, commissioned by the Panorama show and entitled "Economic and social-political positioning of the AfD", concludes that the economic and social-political positions of the AfD are anything but favorable to workers. According to the study, the party is "clearly on the market-liberal, business-friendly and fiscally conservative pole" of the political spectrum, between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) and the FDP. In one of the analyses, AfD reaches 92 percent of market-liberal positions, CDU/CSU 79 percent, and FDP 100 percent. writes DW.
For the purposes of the study, political scientist Floris Biskamp analyzed the basic program of the AfD, as well as all programs of that party for the elections to the Bundestag and European Parliament since 2013. He checked the results with other methods, among other things, quantitative analysis of election programs and analysis of parties' answers to questions within the digital assistant for voter orientation based on the parties' election programs, Valomat (Wahl-O-Mat). All analyses, Biskamp concludes, consistently show that the AfD has been strongly market-liberal oriented since its founding.
Photo: AP Photo/Michael ProbstAfD is experiencing tremendous growth in Germany
Analysis of the digital assistant on the Internet
This conclusion is clearly seen from Biskamp's analysis of the parties' responses within Valomat since 2013. In the run-up to the Bundestag elections, the parties express themselves there on 38 topics chosen by the Federal Center for Political Education.
Biskamp analyzed those attitudes that clearly relate to economic and social policy, such as tax policy, increasing or decreasing social benefits, government spending or market regulation.
He assigned points to the answers: support for market-liberal proposals or rejection of requests for redistribution brought positive points, while opposing views brought negative ones. Neutral answers did not affect the result. After that, he transferred the results to a scale from zero to 100 percent. Zero percent indicates a consistently redistributive and social-state position, while 100 percent represents a maximally market-liberal, economy-friendly and fiscally conservative policy.
The result shows that the AfD has been on the market-liberal end of the political spectrum since its foundation, roughly between the CDU/CSU and the FDP. In the elections for the Bundestag in 2025, according to that analysis, it reached 92 percent. Only the FDP with 100 percent was even more market-liberal. The CDU/CSU had 79 percent, the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) 29 percent, the SPD and the Greens each 25 percent, and the Left eight percent.
These results show that the AfD, after a period of softening, has returned to the strong market liberalism of its early years. In 2013, it reached 89 percent, in 2017, 83 percent, in 2021, 71 percent, and in 2025, 92 percent, which brought it closer to the level from the beginning of its existence.
Photo: AP Photo/Michael SohnAfD election campaign
Workers as a target group
Despite its distinctly economic-liberal orientation, AfD, according to Biskamp's assessment, makes a targeted effort to attract workers. Back in 2016, the party recognized them as an important target group of voters.
In the internal strategic document of the federal leadership of the party, which Panorama had access to, the target groups are "little people", workers and the unemployed. Since the party had a negative image among members of the upper middle class, the goal was to "compensate for the lack of votes in the upper social strata with even better results among the 'little people'."
Biskamp sees in this an early strategic orientation towards the workers. In his opinion, it was primarily the image of the party that changed, and much less its program.
AfD social-political representative René Springer rejects such an interpretation. Other parties, primarily the SPD, have left behind a "huge void in representing" workers' interests, Springer claims: "We are filling that void because we want to represent those interests."
Springer cites "homeland, family and work" as the specific interests of workers, but admits that these values are not shared only by workers.
The Mannheim-based Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) concluded ahead of the 2025 federal election that the AfD's tax proposals would benefit above-average people with high incomes and large assets. Springer criticizes such calculations, arguing that they do not take into account indirect burdens such as the price of CO₂ emissions. However, abolishing the levy would also disproportionately benefit wealthier citizens, as they produce more carbon dioxide emissions on average.
Photo: Soeren Stache/DPA via APAlice Weidel, co-president of the AfD
Conflict between "inside" and "outside"
Political scientist Biskamp points out that personal economic interests are not necessarily the deciding factor when choosing who to vote for. According to his opinion, it can be concluded that the conflict over distribution, that is, the question of the relationship between the rich and the poor, which includes topics such as the level of salaries or property taxation, has lost its importance in the political competition.
One of the reasons for this, Biskamp believes, is the fact that today's workers are less and less socialized within the labor movement, through traditional unions or through organizations intended for workers, such as workers' sports or singing societies.
Instead of a "top-down" conflict, the AfD offers a different interpretation of social divisions. In an interview with Panorama, Rene Springer explained it in these words:
"The social question of the 21st century is no longer a question between 'those below and those above', but a question between 'those inside and those outside.'"
According to that logic, attention should be less focused on the rich and wealthy, and more on migration and globalization.
As Springer says, it's about "protecting ourselves from those who come here and end up abusing the social system."
Social policy alone is not enough
Biskamp's study ultimately concludes that it is not enough for other parties to compete with the AfD to rely exclusively on socio-political measures.
According to Biskamp, they must also work to ensure that the voters perceive the state in general, and the welfare state in particular, as something that contributes to the improvement of living conditions and from which they themselves benefit.
According to his opinion, such perception has significantly weakened over the past decades.
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