Federal election 2021: an election campaign at unusual times

Three top candidates and the race completely open: An unusual election campaign with many surprises is coming to an end. Often it was about sympathy values, but also about factual issues.

It was a good 450 minutes: that long Annalena Baerbock, Armin Lascht and Olaf Scholz only discussed with each other on TV programs. There are also many other interviews, election campaign dates and speeches on marketplaces. So there have been many occasions where election programs and political ideas have been argued.

And yet some have got the impression of a “strange” election campaign in which little things got more attention than plans for the future. A corrected résumé, an unnecessary book, a misplaced laugh. These are the key words that make the findings of the empty election campaign sound plausible.

But it’s more complicated. The starting position was extraordinary: Angela Merkel is leaving the Chancellery voluntarily. An era ends after 16 years. At the same time, the task for a future federal government could hardly be greater. The pandemic remains a burden, it threatens to destroy livelihoods. It was also a clear indication of where there is a digital problem in the country. And: The consequences of climate change have become even more tangible for Germans due to the destructive floods in summer.

Green credibility got scratches

It seemed to be the right time for the Greens and their original topic of climate protection. The first green candidate for chancellor campaigned for a new departure in the spring and presented herself as an alternative to the “business as usual” of the other parties. But before she, the party leader with no government experience, could build trust with content, she put obstacles in her own way. An unnecessary book with many transcribed passages became a symbol of the mistakes. Despite apologies, my own credibility got severe scratches. It would be some time before Baerbock could overcome the low blows.

It was an election campaign with no certainties. Union man Laschet also felt this. He was well ahead in the polls. But his messages were often not clear enough. Markus Söder, “Chancellor candidate of the hearts”, did not keep his dissatisfaction to himself. And if things don’t go smoothly, a brief moment can become a big problem. Crisis situations like floods are actually the hour of the doers. Laschet laughs once in the wrong place. The damage to the image is massive.

Sympathy values ​​and issues

It is the headlines around Baerbock and Laschet that drown out the discussion over a long stretch of what ideas the two of them have in terms of content. Did the seemingly trivial things distract from really important questions? Yes and no. In Germany, voters do not directly decide who should move into the Chancellery after Merkel.

And yet questions about the image and credibility of top staff play an important role. In addition, says pollster Nico Siegel from Infratest Dimap: “The criticism that the content is neglected in the election campaign is not new, we have been observing it for many decades.” In his opinion, content played a major role in this choice. He cites the discussion on economic and tax policy as an example.

The SPD catches up

It was also an election campaign with surprises. Olaf Scholz was long considered beaten. In the election campaign he relied on calm and seemed to want to avoid mistakes. For the magazine of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” she was photographed in a Merkel diamond pose. Promise: change plus security. Scholz managed to catch up in the polls, suddenly he took the lead.

“No charisma, please!” was a New York Times article headlined. The Germans would like politics to be boring. The Cologne psychologist Stephan Grünewald regularly tries to sense the mood of the Germans. He conducts depth psychological interviews and group discussions with his team. Before the election, he did not encounter a proven mood of change, instead he encountered an ambivalent attitude.

Fear of the “challenges of the century”

The “challenges of the century” are quite clear to people, but not how they can be mastered, says Grünewald in an interview with the ARD capital studio: “You feel that a tremendous change is actually necessary, but at the same time you are afraid of it.” Was it now a strange, unusual election campaign? Maybe. It was certainly an election campaign at an unusual time.