The good news first: Only a minority often or very often report negative feelings, positive feelings are much more widespread. The emotional mood in Germany is therefore good and also better than some reporting suggests. In addition, little has changed since 2018. There has been a slight decline in three emotions: On average, people feel calm and composed a little less often in 2025 than in 2018, have a lot of energy a little less often and are slightly less angry. In contrast, there is a slight increase in those who feel anxious.
At the same time, however, there are individual groups of voters who feel negative feelings more often than average. Above all, AfD voters, Left Party voters and non-voters report feeling negative feelings more often than the population as a whole. In contrast, voters of the Union and the Greens in particular report negative feelings less often and positive feelings more often.
There is a clear correlation between negative feelings and political attitudes. Negative feelings reduce social optimism, reduce satisfaction with democracy and at the same time increase susceptibility to populism. In West Germany, this is especially true for the emotions of depression and anger. In East Germany (excluding Berlin), anger has the strongest influence on optimism, satisfaction with democracy and populism. Depression and especially anger are therefore not only individually problematic, but also socially and politically relevant feelings, as they can promote democratically problematic attitudes. Therefore, it is also important at the social and political level not to fuel anger, but to de-escalate it. One way to do this can be to appreciate and recognize the (life's) achievements of citizens. This is because people who do not feel treated with respect are more likely to be angry or depressed than people who always feel treated with respect.
For the present study, a total of 4,004 people were interviewed by telephone by the opinion research institute Ipsos from 15 September 2025 to 17 November 2025. The sample was drawn from the ADM sampling system as a multi-layered random sample, which includes 60 percent landline and 40 percent mobile phone numbers using the dual-frame method. In order to be able to carry out separate, reliable analyses for eastern and western Germany, respondents are overrepresented in the eastern German states (including Berlin), so that 2,074 interviews were conducted in western Germany and 1,930 interviews in eastern Germany (including Berlin). This excess rate was then compensated for by weighting. In addition, the data were weighted according to socio-structural characteristics. By using a random sample, the survey is representative of the eligible voting population in Germany aged 18 and over.
These and other detailed findings can be found in the full study ‘Emotionen in der Demokratie’.
Please note, to date the study is only available in German.
