Are a lot of people in Germany very Christian? One thing I've always wondered about given CDU's popularity
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German Federal Elections 2021 - 20th Bundestag
- Thread starter Deleted member 5491
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I guess it was the name I reacted to. Plus that the two often go hand in hand when it comes to politics.
I have seen claims in this thread that both the SPD and Greens have allied themselves with the CPU/CSU in the past. Given that, is there reason to believe that the SPD and Greens will form a government together? Or is everyone just voting for the best party in their view and hoping that everything turns out well?
Nowadays, being a Christian Democrat in various European countries just means you're an average, run-of-the-mill center-right politician with your social political views leaning conservative and your economic views, while certainly not being left-wing, are at least not rabidly free-market and anti-welfare state. You can be a member of those parties without being a practicing Christian and/or a very religious person.
The term 'Christian' exists mainly for historical reasons. It's just that those political groups originally emerged out of (or congreated around) the already existing structures of organised religion (i.e. the Catholic Church or various protestant communities) and they claimed that their political ideology is broadly based in Christian ethics.
In any case, 'Christian' certainly doesn't mean 'rabid, ultra-conservative evangelicals preaching the gospel of Supply-Side Jesus'. We have those too, of course, but you'll usually find them in some irrelevant fringe party (and I guess the AFD nowadays).
I sometimes catch myself wishing for Habeck to have become the green Candidate but on the other hand, I´m quite sure a smear campaign against him would have been just as aeffective as the one against Baerbock.
It´s just frustrating to see how the greens are stumbling through that, seemingly without a good plan of defense and never really knowing if the alternative Candidate would have been the better Choice afterall.
Especially taking into consideration how important this Election is....
It´s just frustrating to see how the greens are stumbling through that, seemingly without a good plan of defense and never really knowing if the alternative Candidate would have been the better Choice afterall.
Especially taking into consideration how important this Election is....
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No, hardly anybody is electing them because of Christian values. CDU even has members with different faiths like Muslims. Few, but religion really doesn't play a role here for most people.
In fact, the german catholic church is fighting a big wave of withdrawals. But that's mostly because of church higher ups covering up pedophilia and a couple other problems. That said, even the german catholic church is a bit more "modern" and constantly ignores orders or recommendations from the pope. They are, for example, blessing gay couples and giving them church ceremonies. They are not allowed to marry them, so that's what they produced.
For catholic priests that's quiet liberal!
The same goes for CDU, while there are many conservative scumbags in the party, overall, it would still be viewed as left in the u.s.
Me too
If SPD and Greens have a majority on their own, they will quite certainly try to form a coalition/government. However, this doesn't seem realistic at the moment. A coalition of the two with Die Linke (left wing party) has a small majority in most polls right now, but isn't too realistic either because of differences mainly in foreign policy. I still hope it's going to happen as it is the only chance for real progress in this country, imho. But unfortunately it's not the most likely option.
So the SPD and Greens were merely using whatever leverage they had in the past? I checked the 2017 results. The CDU/CSU had about 37% support collectively. It makes sense, then, that parties would have approached the CDU/CSU, since this was the clearest path towards governance. With that in mind, Germany may have something to look forward to even if the SPD, Greens and Die Linke can't form a government, as the CDU/CSU's power will have waned significantly. If the polls I see posted here hold true. Assuming they retain governance, whichever party forms a coalition with them should have markedly more influence. Good luck to Germany all the same.
I can't vote being a British Citizen in Germany. But what I would like to see from whoever holds power is actual deep investment in the infrastructure that Germany needs for challenges that it faces e.g. Climate change, automation, transportation, communications, etc. I hope whoever holds power will think that Modernisierung is more than just getting rid of Faxgerät in the Bundestag.
Well, there were even majorities for an SPD/Greens/Linke coalition before (e.g. in 2013), but no coalition was formed. Apart from this option, I believe the CxU under Merkel always had a share of seats in the parliament large enough to rule out any other coalition options. After the last election there were coalition talks between the CxU, the FDP and the Greens, but they failed because of the FDP. The result was another "grand coalition" between CxU and SPD, which previously been ruled out by the latter.
There may also be the option of an SPD/Greens/FDP coalition after this year's election, although politically this would be quite a challenge especially for the FDP. But in my opinion, this would still be better than another government with the conservatives...
Yeah, at first I thought it was this super conservative, republican right wing party which always tip-toes along the lines of being openly racist, homo-/transphobic and valueing good germanic tradition above all else. Then I noticed I was right either way.
Okay, this makes the frustration and cautious optimism expressed by users in this thread more understandable. And I suppose this may be seen as a rare opportunity to get rid of a coalition dominated by CxU policy, even if the SPD were party to it. The SPD having been seen as a mitigating voice previously? Giving greater credence to a SPD/Greens/X coalition? Looking forward to the results.
Are you suggesting the AfD has some degree of subtlety? They're not as blatant as the NDP, but their rhetoric is still an open book.
No, I don't think so. It's quite a complicated story, but the SPD lost a lot of its lower/middle class voters' trust by introducing harshly neoliberal reforms during the early 2000s (most well known is the "Hartz IV" program for unemployed people and its merciless sanctions for basically everything). After that, the SPD almost destroyed itself by governing with the CxU again and again under Angela Merkel as chancellor. Especially after the 2017 elections, there was a huge backlash inside and outside the party, and the coalition was formed only after a lot of debating and a party-internal vote on it.
In this context, it's actually quite unexpected that the SPD stands at 20+ per cent right now in the polls, even competing for first place now. Many people already saw the SPD becoming basically irrelevant compared to its history as one of the two "Volksparteien". I think it is mainly due to the trainwreck the CxU campaign and candidate is, and the stumbling of the Greens in recent weeks.
So as you can see, things are quite complicated, but also probably haven't been this open and exciting this close before an election in a long time. :D
Nah, i just wanted to make a dumb joke how CDUCSU is not so far away anymore from AfD Rhetorics :D No big brain think behind it ^^
Oh hey, thank you for the summary. Complicated, indeed! Laschet being a trainwreck might be Germany's biggest blessing, in that he's making an unlikely scenario ever more tangible. I obviously don't know much about him, only that he has been accused of being soft on Putin, but I think it's healthy in any democracy for a ruling party to have its powers limited by coalition partners or the threat of new coalitions forming. If polling is at all accurate, the next four years are going to be a balancing act.
75% SPD for me - more from some smaller parties but I'm actually surprised it's this high atm.
Volt is higher and from their answers align more with my views but I feel like they will not be able to get over 5% this time.
Haha same.
77% Linke
74% Grüne
64% SPD
45% FDP
35% CDU
11% AfD
Not exactly shocked by the result. The SPD just isn't left enough for me these days. 🤣
Same, kind of sad as a member of the party. And it's also mostly due to climate policies.
Yea Union and AfD being dead last is quite something...
But it also goes to show how silly it is to claim the greens are just painted blacks...
But it also goes to show how silly it is to claim the greens are just painted blacks...
My highest alignments are with parties I've never heard of, Tierschutzallianz and LfK. I'm the protector of animals and children! Of the big ones it's die Grünen and SPD.
Yep same here. Also wanting to extend Nuclear power for long as possible.
LfK - 82.1% Never heard of them.
Grüne - 74.4%
Die Partei - 74.4%
SPD - 64.1%
Linke - 61.5%
FDP - 48.7%
NPD - 46.2% Crap, didn't expect that
CDU - 38.5%
AfD - 20.5%
I planned to vote green anyway, good to know I was right.
Did it again after reading up on some of the party answers towards the questions - Since it's pretty binary, I skipped some I don't know enough about.
83,8% Die Partei
78,4% Volt
78,4% SPD
75,7% Grüne
53,0% Die Linke
48,6% FDP
40,5% CDU
16,2% AfD
So red or green it'll be, depending on how the polls go towards the end.
83,8% Die Partei
78,4% Volt
78,4% SPD
75,7% Grüne
53,0% Die Linke
48,6% FDP
40,5% CDU
16,2% AfD
So red or green it'll be, depending on how the polls go towards the end.
LFK 80,6 (highest)
SPD 77,8
Piraten 66,8
Die Partei 63,9
CDU 55,6
Linke 55,6 mostly foreign policy
FDP 55,6
NPD 55,6 <--- hey, I am not at fault when they proclaim to care about socialist policies (no Kita gebühren, mindestlohn, Vermögenssteuer, Rechtsanspruch auf Ganztagsbetreuung, Bürgerversicherung, Mietendeckel)
AFD 33,3 dead last
SPD 77,8
Piraten 66,8
Die Partei 63,9
CDU 55,6
Linke 55,6 mostly foreign policy
FDP 55,6
NPD 55,6 <--- hey, I am not at fault when they proclaim to care about socialist policies (no Kita gebühren, mindestlohn, Vermögenssteuer, Rechtsanspruch auf Ganztagsbetreuung, Bürgerversicherung, Mietendeckel)
AFD 33,3 dead last
Same here but theyll keep debating the speed limit on highways and banning national flights ...
the best thing is, that the NPD doesn't even explain their positions. All of them are "the party hasn't justified its position"
btw, while I was checking it, I clicked everything yes:
first and last
DIB 75%
AFD 27,8%
dishonorable mention: CDU/CSU with 33% (just 2 places above AFD)
btw, while I was checking it, I clicked everything yes:
first and last
DIB 75%
AFD 27,8%
dishonorable mention: CDU/CSU with 33% (just 2 places above AFD)
It's too bad the people believing Laschet and the other clowns won't watch it. I don't really enjoy Rezo and don't watch his normal content, but this was well made
Cool! Last time he did one of these, my dad changed his party alignment after he watched it.
Will vote Green. Every other party I just can't vote for in good conscious right now. Also fuck AfD
For our english speaking friends, this is about the closing question asked to the chancellor candidates on a TV interview called "ARD Sommerinterview". They weren't all there, each candidate had a solo interview.
Baerbock (Green candidate) was asked how she would explain to her children how her "avoidable mistakes" might have cost her the chancellor position and with that a green led government which would result in positive changes for climate protection.
Scholz (SPD candidate) was asked how long it could take until a government coalition is formed after the election.
Laschet (CDU
Yes, i am *not* joking, and i am *not* exaggerating.