A German explanation for why workers vote right and professionals vote left

The AfD’s result in Saxony-Anhalt has given fresh urgency to a question that has occupied European debates for years: why are so many workers moving toward right-populist parties while the left increasingly draws voters from educated professional groups?

The far-right party won 43.8% of the vote in Sunday’s state election, more than twice its share in 2021. Its strongest support came from workers, with 61% voting for the AfD according to an exit poll.

The familiar explanations divide voters into opposing cultural camps. Highly educated metropolitan voters are associated with openness, diversity, justice and education. Less educated people in small towns and rural areas are associated with tradition, hierarchy, security and stability. The article argues that this language sounds neutral but carries a heavy moral charge, because it implicitly presents one group as liberal and enlightened and the other as narrow-minded and ignorant.

The review examines Philip Manow’s book “Spaltungslinien. Europas Parteiensysteme und die Dekonsolidierung des Nationalstaats.” Manow, a German political scientist and professor at the University of Siegen, questions whether right-populist parties such as Germany’s AfD and France’s right-populist parties are really as right-wing as they are commonly portrayed. The article is a review, and its writer is responsible for the opinions expressed.