If it were up to the officials in the country alone, the outcome of the election on September 26th would be clear: After that, a green-black coalition would take over government affairs - with the Greens, Annalena Baerbock, being allowed to provide the chancellor for the first time.
The classic workers' party SPD and the party of the self-employed and entrepreneurs, FDP, can only hope for little support.
This was the result of the public service survey for the German Association of Civil Servants dbb, which was carried out by the opinion research institute Forsa.
Around 1000 representatively selected employees in the public service, i.e. civil servants and collective bargaining employees, were surveyed.
Corinna Budras
Business correspondent in Berlin.
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Johannes Pennekamp
Responsible editor for economic reporting, responsible for “Die Lounge”.
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According to the survey, 32 percent of civil servants would vote green, compared to 28 percent for the entire public service. The Union would vote 28 percent (24 in the public service) and the SPD only 16 (18) percent. 6 (10) percent of public employees would opt for the AfD, 9 (8) percent for the FDP, and 3 (5) percent for the Left. The results reflect the party preferences as of the end of August. Compared to the beginning of the year, this reveals a great deal of dynamism: At that time, the Union was still way ahead with 40 percent.
The survey reveals a blatant difference to the rest of the population: In the latest surveys, the SPD is currently clearly ahead of the Union, with the Greens following in third place. The dbb explains the discrepancy with the higher level of education and the secure professional environment. However, the party preference also corresponds to the list of priorities that public service employees are drawing up for the next federal government: environmental and climate protection is at the top by a clear margin (51 percent), while the top topic of the 2017 election, the refugee crisis, is hardly any longer plays a role. In second place is coping with the corona pandemic.
According to the survey, “securing good health care” is the most important factor when deciding whether to vote for yourself, according to the study. It is worrying, however, that almost half of the public sector employees do not trust any party to stand up for “recognition and respect, good pay or positive development in the public sector”. “The state employers have lost a lot of trust here in recent years,” warned the federal chairman of the dbb, Ulrich Silberbach.
In addition to the approval from the public service, the Greens can also look forward to a cash injection in the final spurt of the election campaign. The party recently received the largest single donation in its history - Dutch entrepreneur Steven Schuurman transferred 1.25 million euros to the Greens. Real estate developer Sebastian Schels also donated 250,000 euros to the party. A spokeswoman confirmed a report by the Handelsblatt on request. In the spring, the political investor Antonis Schwarz and a software developer from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania donated large sums to the Greens. The new record donor, Schuurman, is a Dutch tech entrepreneur who co-founded Elastic. Elastic is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and specializes in data search and analysis.