Voting behaviour by age and gender

Clear age differences are consistently evident in voting behaviour, with both age effects and cohort effects playing a role in the parties’ performance. The voting behaviour of the youngest age groups exhibits further distinctive features. Based on representative data, this study reaches the following conclusions:

• Gender differences are regularly evident in voting behaviour. In the 2025 federal election, the Union was the only party with a virtually balanced gender ratio among its electorate.
• Differences in voting behaviour are also consistently evident across age groups. Certain age-related effects, such as the CDU/CSU’s above-average performance among older voters, have remained stable over time, whilst generational effects play a lesser role.
• In the 2025 federal election, both recurring age-related differences — such as the above-average performance of the CDU/CSU and the SPD among the over-60s — and new differences — such as the significantly above-average performance of Die Linke among the under-35s—were evident.
• The voting behaviour of young people generally follows broader trends. The youngest voter group stands out due to particularly pronounced volatility and an increasing gender effect.
• Furthermore, fragmentation is evident in increasing gender, urban-rural and educational effects, which are particularly pronounced among young people.
• The electoral influence of younger people is limited: the 18–29 age group accounts for only 13 per cent of all eligible voters.
• Voters under the age of 30 have a below-average turnout rate.

Please note that this study is only available in German.