The SPD has big plans to achieve improvements in people’s everyday lives, for example by strengthening health care in rural areas. According to the election program, Thuringia should become the most family-friendly federal state. Does the party need to sell its goals and successes better?
Few people seem to be interested in a family-friendly Thuringia. According to the FES study, family policy is only relevant for a good five percent of those surveyed. Buzzwords are of little help. We need to better explain to citizens what “family-friendly” means in detail, meaning, for example, a better care ratio in daycare centers or free school meals.
In order to counter the polarized political mood, the authors of the study advocate “outstanding” political education, information about factual connections and understandable political decisions. Is that enough to stop the AfD?
I unreservedly support the demand for a comprehensible policy. In order to take advantage of political education offers, the target group needs to be aware of the deficit. However, people who vote for AfD out of racist motivation do not have this. So you can’t force that either.
However, expanded political education in schools can be effective in winning future voters over to democratic attitudes.
The SPD has been campaigning for years to increase budget headings for political education. The coalition supports first-time voter campaigns and also providers of political education, including in the adult sector, in obtaining long-term financing in order to have more planning security and to be able to launch multi-year projects.
We need measures that will prevent the AfD from rising further now. Otherwise, one day political education may be completely over in Thuringia.
According to the FES study, typical AfD voters are under 30, male, workers, of average education and from the countryside. How does the SPD want to reach these people? What offer does she have for them?
The primary offer is to solve problems addressed to politicians. The state government has put a number of things on the right track when it comes to immigration and has refuted the impression that things are going haywire. There were massive difficulties at the initial reception center in Suhl. Interior Minister Georg Maier has drawn the conclusion that the building will be closed by 2026. The new building will be equipped according to the most modern guidelines. This will dampen the discontent in the region about the current conditions.
But it is also true that a large proportion of AfD voters did not vote at all in the past. There are many people among them who are not really interested in our social and political system. They know next to nothing about separation of powers or the right to vote. We cannot reach these people, not even by solving the problems. A good number of them vote for the AfD not even though it is right-wing extremist, but because it is right-wing extremist.
SPD leader Saskia Esken sees trust in democracy dwindling everywhere. How do you feel about this in Thuringia? To what extent is the situation there special?
Unfortunately, right-wing extremist tendencies have a long tradition here. In 1930, Thuringia was the first state to have a government with the participation of the NSDAP. The racism and anti-Semitism of that time have not disappeared. This potential has now found a political outlet in the form of Höcke’s AfD.
The fact that many people have difficulties with democracy is also a result of the past 35 years. The Left and its predecessor party, the PDS, have repeatedly raised doubts about democratic institutions. The Left has now become a state supporter in Thuringia. People who are critical of democracy have therefore sought a new focus.
On top of that, many East Germans who do not support the traffic light’s course towards Russia’s war against Ukraine have the feeling that they are once again being undermined by the West. This also causes frustration. The willingness to use violence among the frustrated is growing.