Siegmund combined the forward-looking “Everything is Possible” with another slogan, “Bring Back the Good Old Times,” fusing nostalgia and hope, a powerful combination for people worried about the rapid pace of disruptive change and an uncertain future.
“He’s become a bit of a pop star, and that explains a lot about why the AfD doubled its vote,” said the German-British historian Katja Hoyer. “It also helps explain why there was a smaller gap between men and women in Saxony-Anhalt. In the national vote, far more men than women vote for the AfD.”
Hoyer believes the appeal won’t be confined to Germany. Others will learn from it.
In the summer of 2024, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared that “the center is holding.” Following that year’s European Parliament elections, it seemed voters still largely backed centrist parties, despite significant gains by right-wing populists and national conservatives. But a succession of elections since then, including Saxony-Anhalt, has suggested that Europe may be further from peak populism than many centrists hoped.
Marco Tarchi, an Italian political scientist at the University of Florence, believes populism in Europe still has further to go. “Political narratives rather than policy details drive voter behavior,” he told POLITICO. For right-wing populists, he said, it will be crucial to ensure that their narratives focus on the issues potential voters deem most important.
Hoyer’s latest book, “Weimar,” chronicles interwar Germany and the rise of the Nazis through Weimar, the birthplace of the country’s first full democracy. She has closely observed this month’s state elections and, while dismissing comparisons with the late 1920s, acknowledged some parallels.