Researchers at Paderborn University surveyed some 7,650 Abitur students from the Class of 2020 and 2021 on their political views and opinion on the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic
In June, Abitur students across Germany were questioned for the second year in a row about their experiences of remote learning by educational researchers and psychologists from Paderborn University, in co-operation with Essen-based start-up ABIHOME. The study was conducted by Tim Rogge from the General Didactics, School Education and Media Education research group and Dr Andreas Seifert from the Educational Psychology and Developmental Psychology research group. More than 7,500 students took part in the non-representative survey.
In addition to gaining insights into groups of students who found remote learning particularly stressful and the causes behind these feelings of stress – for example, the ‘hybrid learning’ teaching model – the researchers also questioned the students on their opinions on educational policy decisions. What they found was a high level of dissatisfaction among young people with the educational policy decisions taken during the pandemic, with around 70 percent of the Abitur students surveyed stating that they were dissatisfied or rather dissatisfied.
In order to better understand the students’ frustration with the political system and policy makers, these findings have now been explored in greater depth in a follow-up study, focused in particular on the causes of frustration and the possible ramifications for the political socialisation of potential first-time voters. This second survey of a total of 7,654 Class of 2020 and 2021 Abitur students from across Germany was conducted by ABIHOME in the first three weeks of September, to obtain the broadest possible feedback from this group of voters in advance of the German federal elections.
Abitur students felt let down by politicians
The majority of the Abitur students surveyed felt that they had not been taken seriously during the COVID-19 pandemic (65% agreed or strongly agreed), that politicians had not shown any understanding for their concerns (67.8% agreed or strongly agreed) and had not taken them into consideration (62% agreed or strongly agreed). Consequently, 57.6% of these first-time voters (somewhat) agreed with the statement “I felt let down by politicians during the COVID-19 pandemic”, while 47.4% stated that they were “very disillusioned with politics”.
Criticism of indecisive action and poor communication with regard to education policy
The federal states’ education policies clearly play a particular role in fuelling this disappointment and frustration: In terms of both Abitur examination arrangements and communication between ministries of education and schools, the Class of 2020 and 2021 rated the education policies during the COVID-19 pandemic as very poor. For example, 79.6% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “Politicians should have found a solution for this year’s Abitur far earlier”, while 80.3% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “Communication between politicians and schools was poor”. 72% (somewhat) agreed that policy makers underestimated the stress of the Abitur during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that this consequently exacerbated inequalities between students (70.9% agreed or strongly agreed).
The young people surveyed seem to regard different political levels differently: Overall, politicians’ handling of the crisis was viewed rather negatively (42.3% rated this as “poor” or “very poor”). However, while the Federal Government’s and German Chancellor’s handling of the crisis was rated neutrally to positively (47% of respondents deemed the Chancellor’s handling of the crisis “good” or “very good”), that of education ministers at federal and state level was rated poorly.
First-time voters perceive little solidarity with their generation
A second cause of political frustration among first-time voters appears to be intergenerational conflicts. While almost half of the first-time voters surveyed agreed that the call for solidarity with older people during the pandemic was justified (48.9% agreed or strongly agreed), 51.2% of respondents also (somewhat) agreed with the statement that “Older people [...] do not show any solidarity towards my generation”. The behaviour of older people during the pandemic and their attitude to the climate crisis in particular seem to play a major role here. 75.3% of those surveyed (fully) agreed with the statement “It is the younger generation who are paying the cost of the pandemic, with important investments in their future, in terms of education and climate protection, for example, being put on hold”. In addition to the education policies adopted during the pandemic, fear of the consequences of climate change also appears to be a cause of political frustration among first-time voters, with 83% of the Class of 2020 and 2021 Abitur students surveyed answering “Yes” to the question of whether they are concerned about extreme effects of climate change.
Less faith in politics than before the pandemic, yet very high willingness to vote
Overall, those surveyed stated that they have (far) less faith in politics than before the pandemic, at 42.3%. Nevertheless, satisfaction with democracy in Germany prevails, which is also evident from the very high willingness to vote expressed by these first-time voters (92%). When asked about their preferred party in the federal elections, 29.7% of the young people surveyed responded that they planned to vote for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Green Party), 14.6% for the FDP (Free Democratic Party), 10.5% for the SPD (Social Democratic Party), 7.8% for ‘die Linke’ (Left Party), 5% for the CDU/CSU (German/Bavarian Christian Social Union), 2.7% for satirical party ‘die Partei’ and 1.8% for nationalist right-wing party AfD. 25.8% said they were still undecided.
Of the 7.9% of respondents who stated that they would not be voting, 42.8% will not be old enough to vote in the federal elections. A further 23.4% do not have the right to vote because they do not hold German citizenship. The remaining respondents do not plan to vote because of a lack of affinity: 23.1%, for instance, stated that none of the parties appeal to them, 17.5% do not like any of the candidates for Chancellor and 15.9% said that they are so disillusioned with politics at the moment that they do not want to vote. 11% think that voting “doesn’t make any difference anyhow”, and 5.1% are not interested in voting.
