I’m hoping some Poles or Germans from the border regions, or people with knowledge of both countries, can help explain something that genuinely puzzles me.
When you look at electoral maps, there seems to be a very sharp political contrast along the German–Polish border, particularly in the north-east and around Saxony.
For example:
- Szczecin and the wider West Pomeranian region (Zachodniopomorskie) consistently support Civic Platform / Civic Coalition (PO/KO). In recent elections, PO/KO has been getting around 40–45% regionally, and Szczecin itself is considered a stronghold of liberal / centrist politics.
- Just across the border, in rural Mecklenburg-Vorpommern near Szczecin (places like Vorpommern-Greifswald), the AfD often polls around 40% or more, sometimes coming first in local or federal elections.
The contrast is even starker further south:
- Görlitz (Saxony) is one of the strongest AfD areas in Germany, with the party receiving roughly 45–50% in recent Bundestag elections. It’s also the constituency of Tino Chrupalla, one of the AfD’s most prominent leaders.
- Directly across the river in Zgorzelec and the surrounding Lower Silesian region, voting patterns look very different. PO/KO tends to be competitive or dominant, and the region overall leans centre-left / liberal, rather than nationalist in the German AfD sense.
What confuses me is that:
- Görlitz reportedly has a large population with Polish roots (often cited as very significant locally).
- Tino Chrupalla himself is ethnically Polish.
- Economically, these are all post-industrial border regions, with demographic decline, emigration, and lower wages compared to national averages.
Yet politically, the outcomes diverge sharply.
Looking at maps:
- Almost all of eastern Germany (apart from Berlin and Bavaria, which is conservative but not AfD-dominated) is now heavily AfD.
- In Poland, the pattern is almost inverted: the east of Poland votes heavily PiS, while the west, including areas bordering Germany, votes PO/KO.
So my genuine question is:
Why do neighbouring regions with similar histories, economies, and demographics end up voting in such opposite ways?
I’d especially welcome insight from Poles living near the German border, people from Saxony or Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, or anyone who understands both political cultures.
I’m not trying to make a point ,I’m genuinely trying to understand what’s going on here.
Why does eastern Germany vote so strongly right-wing, while neighbouring western Poland votes centre-left?
byu/Apprehensive-Income inpoland
Posted by Apprehensive-Income
22 Comments
The least economically successful part of Germany happens to be next to the most economically successful part of Poland.
On the German side, resentments and weird post-Soviet nostalgia fed by the russkies bots.
On the Polish side, growing prosperity with good work ethics and great appreciation for the things the EU brought.
I’m sure this is wide-brush only but in essence, it seems correct.
The economies are only technically similar. In the context of a country they are polar opposites. West being the wealthier in both countries, demographic structure may be also skewed similarly (I didn’t check) so east Germany more alike to east Poland.
PO isnt centre-left in any means
Answer is really simple. In Poland things are improving, country is developing etc… while in Eastern Germany everything is in decline, people are pessimistic etc.
Eastern Germany is kind of similar to Eastern Poland. It is Germany B (or C).
I can say from the ukrainian perspective. Western Ukraine is consistently Pro-European while Eastern and Southern were more towards russia (before the war). Looks like eastern regions are more susceptible to russian propaganda and bribery. Also eastern Germany was under Soviet unfluence after ww2.
https://preview.redd.it/7ib3boaupm9g1.jpeg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e55c395d3a7ef18fda19292459ddcde3a66213b2
Poland was never divided like Germany.
Meanwhile in Germany, West kinda screwed over East, while in Poland people that led the change of the government would mostly get to rule, with Wałęsa being a president, those that led Peaceful Revolution in East Germany got largely sidelined by the western politicians pouring tons of resources into the last elections of East Germany, thus the reunification was extrelemy skewed towards the west.
Mieszkańcy z Ziem Odzyskanych dużo chętniej orientowali się na Niemcy i tam też najczęściej szukali oraz znajdowali pracę. Dlatego partia proniemiecka i prounijna znalazła tam swój matecznik. Im mniej tego całego folkloru płynącego z Wwy tym lepiej.
Dokładnie z tych samych powodów we wschodnich Noemczech wygrywa skrajna prawica.
If you are Polish you should check a video from Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) about this.
https://youtu.be/Uy8BIU4bVsw
I think the key is not that these regions are “objectively” similar, but how people interpret their situation.
In eastern Germany, many people feel a lost promise: after reunification, it was supposed to be “like the West,” but in daily life, it often isn’t. This creates frustration and a sense of grievance. The AfD populism taps into this effectively, offering a simple narrative: it’s not your fault, someone took something from you, and there are specific culprits (elites, Berlin, migrants, the EU). This gives a sense of meaning and control.
In western Poland, the context is different. The transformation and EU integration are more often perceived as a real advancement: open borders, investments, jobs, mobility. In this situation, narratives about threats or “stolen prosperity” are less convincing, so centrist and liberal parties perform better.
That’s why similar structural problems can lead to completely different political choices. Populism works where it resonates with strong emotions of loss, injustice, and lack of control, and these emotions have different roots on each side of the border.
Because they are extremely based 🗿
Eastern Germany is post-Soviet, generally poorer and votes conservative, with the exception of west Berlin, which wasn’t controlled by Soviets (or Berlin in general because it’s a big city).
Eastern Poland is post-Soviet, generally poorer and votes conservative, with the exception of Warsaw, which is a big city.
There you have it, obligatory r/widaczabory, is this post intentionally dense?
EDIT: Also, far-right political parties are gaining popularity in Poland, anyway. All truly left wing parties are about to either get fragmented right below the election threshold or completely gobbled up by KO, meanwhile maniacs like Braun are in the double digits now.
EDIT 2: Another important thing to look at — in both cases the far-right gains popularity in areas neighbouring countries the particular people view as lesser. In other words, the entry points for any “evil immigrants taking our jobs and money and women”. For Germany it’s Poland, for Poland it’s Belarus and Ukraine.
The unification of Germany was an economic botch at the cost of the eastern parts. Weak socio-economic regions are more open to anti-establishment resentments, which is exactly what the right wing parties tap into to gather support.
Polish center-left is de facto CDU in Germany
> Why do neighbouring regions with similar histories, economies, and demographics end up voting in such opposite ways?
I don’t think these areas are as similar as you make them, not after the ethnic cleansing of the Germans and only nominally brotherly communist dictatorships. At the same time, I don’t think that the German far right is that far off from the Polish center. If we ignore this Mitteldeutschland shit and the economy, the AfD is very conservative, anti-renewables,, anti-EU, pro-military, pro.-“traditional” values, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant. Sounds familiar?
And the East-West dived of Germany goes at least as far back a the Roman times. In General the Western parts had always been more populated, more developed, more advanced. For Poland the pattern is rather similar.
Because for each of those, it is not the neighbouring area in the adjacent country that forms the reference for political decisions, but the rest of THEIR country is.
These regions aren’t really similar despite bordering each other. In the eastern Germany people have lived there for many generations, many centuries. Meanwhile in the western Poland people are transplants who settled there only in 1945 when this lands became Polish. They are quite rootless and it shows constantly in many polls, many categories. They are less religious, which of course wasn’t caused by some philosophical insight, but by policy of communists. Such policy was much less succesful in the east, where people had strong roots and their parish continously has existed for centuries, while in the west it was created only after 1945 and communists could much easier make it difficult to operate such parish. They are also less conservative in many other categories and this is caused by their lack of deep roots in the region. What to conserve when you have only 80 years of regional tradition?
This is not the only difference of course, but I think that it is a crucial one.
Bwahahaha stop calling KO centre left I beg you. Call them center AT LEAST. I would call them centre-right
When Angela Merkel welcomed refugees they were all placed in eastern Germany to revitalise the economy there. This created big tensions with local population he ce why you see them voting right wing
It has been answered by sociologists.
Western Poland is inhabited by descendants of relocated Poles from the East (lands taken by USSR) and poor people from central Poland. They were uprooted from their communities so they were very susceptible to communist propaganda back in the communist era.
Now their descendants vote for leftists.
Just because Poland and Germany share a border doesn’t mean these countries shared a similar history after World War II. For almost half a century, Germany was two separate countries, where many promises were made to the residents of the former East Germany during reunification, and over 30 years after the Federal Republic of Germany absorbed the GDR, various maps still show two German states. Voting for the AfD is an attempt at rebellion against the establishment by the leading parties: SPD and CDU/CSU.
Because western Poland is western and eastern Germany is eastern..
Poland is not being flooded by welfare goblins