The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Social media proficiency helps far-right gain traction with Europe’s youth
FROM GERMANY and France to Poland and Spain, the far-right made inroads into the youth vote in key states in this EU election — as a generation that has grown up amid constant crises seeks new answers and follows politicians fluent in Tiktok and Youtube.
Young voters, traditionally perceived to be more left-wing, drove the wave of support for environmental parties at the last EU election in 2019. but following the pandemic, the Ukraine war and cost of living crisis, many shifted their support this year towards far-right populist parties that tapped into their concerns, fuelling their overall rise in the June 6-9 EU parliament poll.
“Germany is not going in a good direction and they were the only party with a really clear message, on migration ,” said Christoph, 17, a trade school student in Berlin.
Support for the AFD, which wants to curb migration and warns against what it calls the Islamisation of Germany, was up 11 percentage points to 16% among under-25 year olds, according to an exit poll, more than double the 5- point rise among the broader population.
The shift, which helped the AFD achieve a historic second place nationwide, was notable in that Germany's decision to allow 16-18 year-olds to vote for the first time had been expected to favour left-leaning parties. Though the far-right did not do well everywhere among young voters the trend will still worry mainstream parties, who face a snap election later this month in France, and federal elections next year in Germany.
A recent survey of Germany's youth showed that young people were increasingly worried about inflation, expensive housing and social divisions, and less about climate change. the greens won just 11% of the youth vote on Sunday, down 23 percentage points.
In France, the far-right National Rally (RN) took a 25% share of the vote among 18-24 year olds, according to pollster Ipsos, up 10 percentage points compared with 8-point gain overall to 31.4%. To be sure, most of the youth in the EU'S two top powers still back leftist parties, and many worry about the latest trend.
In Poland, however, support for the far-right Confederation among 18-29 years old voters increased from 18.5% to 30.1%, making them the leading choice for that demographic.
Far-right parties' relative proficiency in young voters' preferred channels of communication video apps such as Tiktok and Youtube and messaging app Telegram - is a big factor behind their increasing success with that generation, analysts said.
The recent German youth study showed that 57% of young people get their news and politics through social media. but german Chancellor Olaf Scholz, like many mainstream politicians, only joined Tiktok a few months ago.
The Afd’s lead candidate for the eu elections, maximilian kr ah, went viral on ti ktok, for example, with dating tips for young men: “Don't watch porn, don't vote for the Greens, go out into the fresh air ... Real men are right-wing."
He has some 53,300 followers on Tiktok.
In Spain, social media influencer Alvise Perez clinched 6.7% of the youth vote, compared with 4.6% of the overall vote, after conducting his anti-immigration and anti-corruption campaign on Ins tag ram and telegram. far-right party Vox which was strong on Tiktok, garnered 12.4% of the vote among those under 25, compared with 9.6% overall.