Establishment politicians and mainstream media outlets will struggle to get their heads around polling that suggests people in Germany with migrant backgrounds are increasingly turning to the AfD. And that the ruling CDU/CSU is losing support from this group.
But it makes sense that migrants who came to Germany legally, worked to integrate, and paid into the system, should feel particularly betrayed by a governing class that rewards those who refuse to follow the rules.
The survey, by a CDU-affiliated foundation, says that among people of Polish descent in particular, the AfD ranks first, thanks largely to them supporting limiting migration more broadly.
Similar trends have been reported elsewhere, including in the U.S., where immigrant voters now say they trust the Republican Party more than the Democrats on immigration policy.
British-American commentator Steve Hilton even said after campaigning in Los Angeles earlier this year that working Mexicans, for example, “talk more strongly about [immigration and deportation] than President Trump.”
Responding to the German polling, AfD official Rüdiger Lucassen said it was “entirely logical that migrants vote for the AfD.”
Anyone who came to Germany as a Pole, Yugoslav, or Turk wants to preserve Germany and avoid any loss of control.
He added that “the whininess of the SPD and Greens also doesn’t fit the self-image of most migrants.”
The party’s co-leader, Alice Weidel, also celebrated the news on social media, insisting that “we are the party for all hardworking and law-abiding people in the country and for everyone who loves Germany.”
For the political turnaround, everyone is needed who means well for Germany!
That one will be hard for the establishment to swallow.
