More than 70 per cent of supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in 2024 were men, according to a major study released on Wednesday.

 In a survey carried out between March and June 2024, the University of Leipzig found that 70.6 per cent of AfD supporters were men.

 This represented the highest ratio for any German party, above the pro-business Free Democrats and The Left, both on 62 per cent.

 In contrast, women made up a far greater proportion of the Greens’ voter base, with only one-third of the party’s supporters (33.6 per cent) being men. The analysis of 2,500 German residents’ voting preferences, released less than two weeks before the country headed to the polls, found that AfD supporters were primarily of middling income or unemployed.

 The report noted that relatively few had a high level of education.

 The Greens represented a polar opposite, with 53 per cent of supporters being highly educated and 44 per cent enjoying a monthly household income above 3,500 euros (3,630 dollars).

The research emerged from a major study on authoritarianism carried out by the university in eastern Germany in 2024. It found that 22 per cent of AfD voters have a closed, extremist right-wing world view, compared to only 2.5per cent of those backing the country’s most popular parties.

  The AfD, which is under investigation by domestic intelligence services as a suspected extremist group, is polling in second place on more than 20 per cent of the vote.

 The study found that the main difference between CDU/CSU voters and AfD supporters was the desire for a strong authority that supporters identify with.

 Some 27 per cent of AfD backers favoured the position, with only 14 per cent of the centre-right bloc’s voters doing so.

(dpa/NAN)