Germans' support for democracy falls below 90% for first time, Leipzig study finds

Democracy support slips below 90%

The Leipzig Authoritarianism Study, presented in Berlin on Wednesday, 11 November 2026, finds that support for democracy as an idea has fallen below 90% for the first time since the survey began in 2002. Nationally the figure stands at 89.3%, a drop driven mainly by the East, where backing fell from 94.6% in 2024 to 85.7%. Satisfaction with democracy as people experience it in daily life is lower still, with only about a third of respondents satisfied nationwide, 22.8% in the East and 36% in the West. The study is produced every two years by the Else Frenkel-Brunswik Institute for Democracy Research at Leipzig University, with support from the Otto Brenner Foundation and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which is close to the Greens.

Nationwide89.3%

East85.7%

Nationwide

89.3 %

East

85.7 %

Data from the article text

Survey method and timeline

Fieldwork started in mid-March 2026 and ran until early June, when more than 2,500 people chosen at random were contacted. Around 40% of them completed the extensive questionnaire, which the study describes as representative. The study is led by social psychologist Oliver Decker, with Ayline Heller as co-editor. The results were presented on Wednesday, 11 November, at an event in Berlin.

Far-right attitudes and the East-West gap

The share of respondents with a closed far-right worldview rose to 6.9% nationally, up from earlier surveys but still below the 8.8% recorded in 2012. The figure is 8.5% in the East and 6.5% in the West.

Nationwide6.9%

East8.5%

West6.5%

Nationwide

6.9 %

East

8.5 %

West

6.5 %

Data from the article text

Chauvinistic national pride reached 19.9% support, the highest level since the survey began, and far-right attitudes rose for a second consecutive survey. Almost a quarter of respondents, 22.3% nationally, back the idea of 'one strong party that embodies the whole national community', a figure that climbs to 30.9% in the East. Men are more inclined toward these attitudes, with 5.6% backing a right-authoritarian dictatorship against 3% of women, and 22% of men holding chauvinist views compared with 18% of women. Regressive nostalgia, which the researchers describe as setting an idealised past against a corrupt and threatening present, was found in 15% of respondents and was more common among older people, lower-income groups, Easterners and those without the Abitur.

Critique of the study's framing

The study is titled 'Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Autoritären', modelled on Bertolt Brecht's play about Arturo Ui, which transposes Hitler's rise to 1930s American gangland. The authors say they chose the title in view of the AfD's electoral successes and the spread of authoritarian needs. Holger Marcks, a social scientist in Mannheim, objects that the figures do not support a link between the AfD's results and far-right attitudes among the population, and he takes issue with the questionnaire itself.

“The figures do not support that.”

The AfD stands at 28% in current polls, while the study records 6.9% of respondents with a closed far-right worldview. The study also draws a line between far-right and conservative attitudes only in places, which Marcks identifies as a weakness in its framing.

What the study concludes

Decker summarises the findings in stark terms, saying that democracy has lost acceptance across broad sections of the population.

“Our democracy is under enormous pressure. It has lost acceptance across broad sections of the population.”

In the invitation to the press conference, Decker explained why the authors looked at the AfD's success this year.

“Given the current electoral successes of the AfD, we examined this year what contributed to these successes.”

The authors examined nostalgia as a propaganda tool used by the AfD. The study was produced with Ayline Heller and in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Otto Brenner Foundation of IG Metall.