Gender Gap in German Politics: Does Female Emancipation Fuel Rightward Shift Among Men?

A recent analysis by sociologist and election researcher Ansgar Hudde from the University of Cologne highlights a significant gender gap in voting behavior among young Germans. After the last federal election, Hudde noted that a quarter of men under 25 voted for the far-right AfD, while a third of women in the same age group supported the Left Party. This disparity was less pronounced in the recent Saxony-Anhalt state election, partly because the Left Party suffered from a strategic second-vote campaign aimed at bolstering the SPD and Greens to prevent an AfD takeover. The article, published in the German newspaper Der Freitag, explores the underlying causes of this political divergence, questioning whether female emancipation is contributing to a rightward shift among men. The piece is authored by Thomas Gesterkamp and appears in the current issue of Der Freitag.