Scandals fail to knock Germany’s AfD off course before electoral tests

are unlikely to do enough damage to blow the party off course before pivotal elections this year, analysts say, but the votes will offer crucial insights into whether the centre can hold against an anti-democratic onslaught.for foreigners and German nationals alike backed by several party members, have sent the AfD’s poll numbers plunging to as low as 15% nationwide. That is its worst score

Höhne said the AfD’s strategy of “normalisation”, or making previously taboo positions mainstream, had been successful among a significant swathe of the German population who were unlikely to be swayed on election day by negative headlines. Anna-Sophie Heinze, a researcher at Trier University, said that while there was still a protest voter component to the AfD’s base, it had long developed a solid constituency, meaning many of its supporters “say they can’t imagine voting for another party”.their opponents. The party has responded that several of its candidates have also been attacked on the hustings, pointing the finger at “leftwing extremists”.

That push-and-pull could be seen in the street protests that sprang up in response to the “remigration” report in the winter, whenHöhne and Heinze said they were fairly confident that the “firewall” against cooperation with the AfD would stand firm among the mainstream democratic parties, in effect barring it from power. But they warned that the temptation to co-opt the party’s stances and framing of hot-button issues such as migration tended to backfire.

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