Only a Few Topics Separate the Supporters of Various Parties
This limits the prospects of attempts to rekindle the great emotional controversies of previous decades. That holds, for example, for the debate over nuclear power, which was refreshed – as though by coincidence – shortly before the elections via the issue of waste disposal. But the attitude of the large majority has been consistently ambivalent for many years: the decision to abandon nuclear power is supported, but at the same time the majority considers it unrealistic; waste disposal is viewed as an unresolved issue, but at the same time, 94 percent of the population believes that it is important for politics to find a solution. This is not the stuff of passionate societal debate.
And the attempt to link the peace movement of the last century with Afghanistan – or at least with the uproar that was orchestrated before the 2002 Bundestag elections in connection with the Iraq war – is proving less than easy. The population’s skepticism toward Bundeswehr missions in crisis regions is considerable by now, but at the same time the majority supports foreign deployments if they serve to secure peace and, in general, German security interests. Ever since the Red-Green coalition, there is no longer any polarization on these issues between supporters of the CDU, SPD, FDP, and the Greens. In general, there are only a few topics that fundamentally separate supporters of these parties. Only the supporters of the Left Party assume a special role in many respects, especially in their critical basic stance toward the German economic and social order.
[ . . . ]
Source: Renate Köcher, “Wahlkampf ohne Leidenschaft” [An Election Campaign without Passion”] FAZ.NET, September 9, 2009.
Translation: Thomas Dunlap
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