A recent survey expert, Klaus-Peter Schöppner, head of the Bielefeld-based survey institute Mentefactum, attributes the surge in popularity of the left-wing party primarily to “fears of excessive social cuts”.
On the one hand, the Union has clearly announced social cuts, but the SPD’s statements on the matter are “vague”, he told the Handelsblatt (Friday edition). If social democrats promise more social benefits, it appears “unrealistic in the face of the high budget deficits they have contributed to and their social policy has a credibility deficit”, Schöppner said. The left party is capitalizing on this, he believes, “by competently tapping into this protest mood”.
The SPD, according to Schöppner, is “too fixated on getting out of the economic and migrant crisis” and the social democratic labor and social minister Hubertus Heil is hardly a presence in the campaign, which makes the SPD “not the real custodian of the little people in this election campaign”. The two top candidates of the left party, meanwhile, are “attractive to opposing groups – and thereby expand their spectrum: Heidi Reichinnek among social media enthusiasts and Jan van Aken among protesters”.
The BSW, on the other hand, “finds little traction in the campaign due to its minimal personnel resources”, Schöppner said. Voters with left-leaning political views will therefore be drawn to the more active left party. Additionally, the activation of well-regarded former politicians such as Gregor Gysi, Dietmar Bartsch and Bodo Ramelow, who have joined the “Mission Silver Lock”, has contributed to a surge in popularity in the East.