国际英语资讯:News Analysis: Voter polarization narrows political center in Germany_时事

国际英语资讯:News Analysis: Voter polarization narrows political center in Germany

The disproportionate rise of the AfD in eastern Germany was therefore due to deeper, structural factors, as well as to the relatively high number of new asylum seekers throughout the country.

Although this number has now been declining for three years in a row, the German public's attitudes toward asylum seekers have hardened significantly, according to a study published by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) earlier this year.

Broening said the German population found itself staring at the east of the country as if it was a "petri dish," watching trends unfold there which were simultaneously local and national in character, such as the polarization of society.

Broening noted that while climate change had already overtaken migration in the public discourse according to surveys, the two topics appealed to entirely different voter groups and their relative success and salience were subject to strong fluctuations.

On the one hand, the growing incidence of extreme weather events in Europe further boosts the popularity of the Greens, whose rise in Germany has alleviated fears of a power grab by the far right.

On the other hand, another influx of refugees in Europe's eastern Mediterranean region in the near future would fit neatly into the AfD's political narrative and could prove those wrong who think that that party has already peaked, according to Broening.