The CSU could achieve a significantly better result in the upcoming state elections than predicted in previous surveys if Prime Minister Markus Söder and his party pushed forward the energy transition in Bavaria more decisively and credibly. This conclusion is suggested by a current representative survey by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of the environmental organization Protect the Planet. The crucial question was: Could you fundamentally imagine voting for the CSU in the upcoming state elections in Bavaria if it were more committed to the expansion of wind and solar energy? 17 percent of non-CSU voters answered the question with “yes” or “more likely yes”. Among the Free Voters supporters, the potential for the CSU was particularly great, with 29 percent of yes or somewhat yes answers.
“The CSU should finally take the energy transition seriously, then it would be more successful again,” says Protect the Planet man Peter Keller. “It could even get back into the area of the absolute majority.” The survey shows once again how overdue it is for Prime Minister Söder and his party to put an end to “their pure energy transition rhetoric and announcement policy.” Instead, they should primarily push the expansion of wind power.
Protect the Planet is a small business-oriented environmental organization. It was founded in 2015 by, among others, the entrepreneur Dorothea Sick-Thies and, for example, supported the successful constitutional complaint against the Federal Government’s Climate Protection Act in 2019. Above all, Protect the Planet is committed to the expansion of wind power, including through the Wind-Rat network.
From Protect the Planet’s perspective, the other survey results also show that the CSU will only score points with voters if it is seriously committed to the energy transition. According to Civey, more than half of CSU voters are convinced that the expansion of wind and solar energy is an increasingly important part of the economic competence of parties. And almost 40 percent of CSU supporters share the fear of climate activists that increasing global warming with increasingly frequent heat waves and extreme precipitation is endangering the quality of life in Bavaria.
Overall, voters’ trust in Söder’s climate protection policy is rather low. Only 21 percent of those eligible to vote consider his announcements that they want to expand renewable energies to be very credible, while another 23 percent answer that they are somewhat credible.
Keller finds it particularly sobering that, according to the survey, almost 30 percent of voters – almost a third – no longer trust any party to significantly expand renewable energies, “and probably not to seriously tackle climate protection either,” as he says. From his point of view, the loss of reputation of the Greens is also remarkable. When asked: “In your opinion, would a coalition of the CSU and Free Voters or rather the CSU and the Greens advocate for greater expansion of wind and solar energy?” With 37 percent, the black-orange government alliance was just ahead of the black-green coalition (35 percent).