Survey: Many East Germans Feel Excluded from Political Participation

(Image: Pixabay CC0) - A clear majority of East Germans can identify with democracy as an idea, but less than half are satisfied with their everyday experience of democracy. This was the result of a representative survey of 3,546 people from the eastern German states conducted by the Else-Frenkel-Brunswik Institute of the University of Leipzig, the results of which were presented today (June 28) at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin by the study's directors Oliver Decker and Elmar Brähler. The vast majority of respondents said they felt they had no political influence. The identification as East Germans is high, the balance of the turnaround is mixed: -One quarter feels like a loser of the turnaround, not even half would like to call themselves a winner. In retrospect, the satisfaction of those surveyed with their life in the GDR is high," said Decker, summarizing a key finding of the representative survey. The study, which also asks questions about the experience and evaluation of the Wende years, was carried out in cooperation with the Research Institute for Social Cohesion (Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt, FGZ) - an association of eleven university and research institutes that focuses on the contradictions of social cohesion in Germany. The study also found a high level of approval for right-wing extremist statements in the eastern German states.