Here to Stay: The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) between Protest, Euroscepticism and Substantial Electoral Support

The European financial and economic crisis, which took place in 2009 and 2010, paved the way for insecurity, discontent and Euroscepticism. In this regard, it seems rather safe to say that the increasing support for populist parties of different ideological affiliations could be explained by the European crisis, all the more since their agenda includes hostile attitudes towards the EU, its institutions and its actors. Indeed, whereas in Southern Europe, left-wing populists, such as SYRIZA and Podemos succeeded, radical right parties, including the National Front in France or the Freedom Party of Austria gained high electoral results in other countries further to the European crisis. Particularly in Germany, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) embraced a Eurosceptic agenda which focused on the pretended failure of the political elites during the crisis in particular and the structure of the EU in general. Especially in the first two year of its existence—including the federal and the European election—the AfD was characterized by an anti-EU, populist profile and experienced growing electoral support. It therefore seems as if the AfD was a typical protest party which profited from ascending discontent with the EU. If this is true, the European crisis could be considered as a ‚midwife‘ for the birth of this party. If not, the question is which motives—apart from its Eurosceptical agenda—have stimulated the support of the AfD. The aim of the paper is to test this argument on the basis of empirical findings. We assume that if the AfD profited from a crisis of legitimacy of the EU, this should be present in the attitudes of those who vote for the AfD. Thus, we investigate three motives of support for the party: (1) general protest and discontent with the political system in Germany, (2) specific discontent with the European Union, and (3) substantial support for the AfD due to convergence between the attitudes of their voters and the positions of the party in other crucial topics. On the basis of survey data, we shall demonstrate that the AfD indeed benefited from substantial support rather than from protest voting or Euroscepticism. Even in the early days of its existence, the AfD had been a rather ‚normal‘ party which were supported neither by fugitive nor by object-related protest. In fact, the empirical results indicate that the AfD profited from a desideratum within the German party system. In this context, our findings also contribute to research on the ongoing electoral success of the party.