An estimated 10.4 percent of voters in Germany have a “migrant background”, which means those who were not born German citizens or have at least one non-German parent. Thus roughly a quarter of Germany’s 83 million-strong population are either immigrants or Germans with a foreign background.
The Union, which comprises the Christian Democrats and the Bavarian-based Christian Social Union, now has more than 43 percent of support among all immigrant groups, but especially among Turkish-born migrants in particular.
The Turkish-born voters appear to have abandoned the leftist SPD. Overall, only one out of four migrants prefer the Social Democrats (SPD), down by a staggering 15 percentage points in just two years.
The survey, conducted by the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR), divided Germany’s migrant population into four broad groups, Deutsche Welle reported.
The four groups include those with Turkish roots, those with German roots who migrated from former Soviet states, EU migrants and those from the rest of the world.
Turkish support for the SPD has sank by almost half in the past two years, from around 70 percent to just 37 percent, while support for Merkel rose by 11 percentage points to 33 percent.
Unsurprisingly, the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is the least popular party among migrant groups. Only 1.1 percent of Turkish-born voters said they backed the AfD, while 12 percent of ethnic Germans from the former Soviet states supported the party.
In the 2013 parliamentary elections, 9.4 percent of eligible voters had a migrant background. Four years later, that number had risen to 10.2 percent.
The 10 million foreigners living in Germany currently however, cannot partake in federal or state elections.
Older Germans generally show up at the polls at significantly higher rates during elections. In the last federal election, voter turnout was highest among people aged 60 to 70, while turnout was lowest among people aged between 21 and 30.
In fact, this trend has benefited Angela Merkel in the past three parliamentary elections, given that the CDU and CSU tend to perform better among older people.
In the last election, Merkel’s Union received over half of all votes cast by people 70 and older — compared to 41.5 percent of all votes from the overall electorate.
Also electoral participation tends to be significantly higher in western German states. In the 2013 Bundestag election, voter turnout was 5.3 percent lower in eastern states, according to the Federal Election Commissioner. Eastern German states are where the anti-immigrant AfD is doing well.