The election on September 26th was different from the previous federal elections: For the first time since 1949, no government stood for re-election.

The well-known pattern according to which supporters and opponents of the government could position themselves against one another and thus present clear alternatives was no longer in force.

The parties and their supporters were, as it were, reset to zero, the usual lines of the front becoming blurred.

The population reacted with interest, but also with a certain degree of disorientation, as the surveys by the Allensbach Institute for Demoskopie show before and after the election date.

The election campaign was characterized by a pronounced mood of change.

In response to the question “Would it be good if the federal government in Berlin were to change, or wouldn't it be good?”, 61 percent of those questioned already replied in May that they would find a change of government a good thing.

That was the highest value since 1994, when the question was first asked.

In July, the proportion of those who supported a change fell to a still comparatively high 55 percent.

In September, just before the election date, the value rose to 65 percent, well above the level known from the previous almost 30 years.

However, if you asked those who were in favor of a change what kind of government they wanted, the answers were unclear.

20 percent of them said in July that they would prefer a government led by the SPD to the current one.

Another 20 percent were in favor of a government led by the Greens, and 18 percent for another coalition led by the CDU / CSU.

A relative majority of 31 percent of those who wanted a change of government said that they had a very different constellation in mind.

It can be seen that the majority of the population was dissatisfied with the current government, but that there was no clear alternative that most of the population was forced to take instead.

This also applies to the candidates for chancellor.

In recent weeks it has often been pointed out that Olaf Scholz was far more popular with the population than Armin Laschet and Annalena Baerbock.

This is also shown by the survey results of the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy.

But these also show that none of the candidates enjoyed the clear approval of the population. When asked "Who would you prefer as Federal Chancellor?", 31 percent answered shortly before the election date that they would prefer Olaf Scholz as Chancellor. Only 17 and 10 percent were in favor of Laschet and Baerbock, respectively, but 31 percent said they did not want any of the three candidates to be Federal Chancellor.

Contrary to what one might assume at first glance, this response behavior is not an expression of disaffection with politics.

Citizens' approval of democracy and its institutions has increased significantly in recent years.

For example, the proportion of those who said they were disappointed in all parties was 36 percent in the summer of 2021.

In 2016 it was 50 percent.

Instead, one can get the impression that the voters have lost their usual guard rails.

The previous government is stepping down, and no new constellation is imposing that convinces the majority of the citizens.