In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party garnered about 30 percent of the youth vote in the European election — a 10-point rise compared to 2019. And in the Austrian national election last Sunday, the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) came in first not only in the general population — but also among voters aged 16 to 34.
Ahead of the federal election in Germany scheduled a year from now, the AfD, now polling second nationally, is hoping to emulate the FPÖ’s success in Austria, in part by reaching Germany’s youth.
In Germany’s last federal election in 2021, young voters flocked to the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). But addressing climate change, the Greens’ core issue, has faded in importance for many younger voters while the FDP has lost much of its image as a party that represents youth and innovation.
Far-right groups are attempting to step into the void, and are growing increasingly adept at appealing to younger voters online.
The AfD was twice as successful at reaching first-time voters on TikTok in the run-up to Germany’s three state elections in September as all other parties combined, according to a study by researchers from the University of Potsdam. This group received an average of one TikTok video a day featuring AfD content, found the researchers, who analyzed over 75,000 videos on the social media platform in the weeks leading up to the elections.
“The discourse on social media is dominated by the right. That wasn’t always the case and is the result of years of work by these political parties and movements, who spent a lot of money to achieve this,” said Roland Verwiebe, one of the study’s main authors. “They have basically created a parallel, alternative media sphere that targets individuals very precisely.”