On February 23, 2025, the results of the German federal elections revealed a national split in young political ideology, with almost 50% of the youth voting in favor of the far left or far right. Similar results were also recently seen in the U.S. federal elections held on November 5th, 2024, which resulted in votes cast by ages 18-24 being split nearly down the middle between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Unlike the U.S., Germany operates under a multi-party representative system, with seats in Germany’s Parliament being given proportional to their popular vote. The German Parliament is made up of five main parties: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CDU/CSU), the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE), and The Left (Die Linke). The left-leaning party of the Die Linke won 64 seats in Parliament (8.77%) and the far-right AfD party won 152 seats (20.8%), resulting in a collective 29.57% of the vote for far-leaning political parties.
Just like with young Americans, youths in other countries are influenced by what they see on the Internet and tend to be in favor of whichever political party holds the greatest online outreach. This is seen in the youth German split in political views, with the AfD and Die Linke, the two parties with the largest internet presence, obtaining nearly half of the 18-24 vote.
The results of this election show a growing divide in politics, with voters in the center slowly becoming outnumbered by those on opposing ends of the political spectrum. With young Germans being split between the far right and the far left, the future of Germany’s elections looks like it may turn out to be a similar political tug-of-war already being seen across the globe between liberals and conservatives. In order to secure this youth vote, many politicians have turned to online campaigning, where many young people spend their free time.
At first glance, this seems like it would hold no significant impact on the United States or the rest of the world. However, if the German elections have taught global politicians anything, this pick up in youth votes by the AfD and Die Linke means that future elections must, and will, become more digitized than ever before.
The U.S. 2024 elections tapped into part of the youth vote, with both the Harris and Trump campaigns creating TikTok accounts within the last six months of the race. However, it was the German political parties that ultimately made full use of the advantage of the Internet, which was evident in their voter turnout.
The German elections are only a small snapshot of the numerous changes that can and will occur in politics across the world. With the seemingly exponential growth of the online world, it was inevitable that elections, and politics in general, would make their way to the Internet. And with the vast majority of the world’s citizens having some form of online presence, it only makes sense that, in order to reach the most voters, politicians will have to move their campaigns online. It is not possible to expect the campaign tactics used in Germany to make their way to the U.S. soon, so it’s important that Americans prepare themselves for a change in how our politicians handle our elections, especially in regard to the online world.
