Körber Foundation survey: How the AfD, disinformation and misguided federal policy are affecting town halls

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Everyone is talking about the feared election victory of the AfD. But hardly anyone is addressing the fact that this growing support for the populists may have very real causes. Namely, policies at federal and state level that completely ignore the interests of the public. This is now even evident in a survey by the Körber Foundation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, which also captures the growing discontent among mayors who are left to deal with the fallout from botched federal policies in their local communities.

“What is the mood like in town halls ahead of the state elections?”, the Körber Foundation wanted to know, and forsa asked and received answers: In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (MV), 44 per cent of senior administrative staff, and in Saxony-Anhalt (LSA) 52 per cent, expect significant impacts on the structures and processes of local government should the AfD lead the future state government.

But it is not even the AfD that is dampening the mood in town halls.

According to mayors (MV: 47 per cent, LSA: 62 per cent) and councillors (MV: 50 per cent, LSA: 61 per cent) in towns and municipalities. This is attributed primarily to a growing, fundamental dissatisfaction with federal and state politics, particularly among councillors from Saxony-Anhalt, at 28 per cent (cf. MV: 22 per cent).

Rarely has a survey made it so clear just how strongly dysfunctional politics, particularly at federal level, is affecting local politics. Fiscal policy, in particular, is currently causing more and more local authorities to sink into debt. Citizens naturally recognise this too when their local authority is forced to make ever more severe cuts to its services.

“With the state elections approaching, it is becoming clear that conflicts in federal and state politics are having an impact right down to the local level. Many mayors, councillors and administrative officials are experiencing a harsher climate, disinformation and growing political pressure,” says Sven Tetzlaff, Head of the Democracy and Cohesion Division at the Körber Foundation, commenting on the findings.

Disinformation in day-to-day work and during election campaigns

And the federal government’s fiscal policy – which has never really been explained and is certainly not transparent – naturally provides the perfect breeding ground for rumours and fake news. These are then further amplified by social media.

The survey revealed that all three groups surveyed are regularly confronted with deliberate and targeted false reports about their work.

For example, 74 per cent of mayors in Saxony-Anhalt report that they have experienced disinformation at least once, but in most cases on multiple occasions. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, this proportion is slightly lower at 56 per cent. Accordingly, a two-thirds majority (66 per cent) of mayors in Saxony-Anhalt are concerned about an increase in disinformation in the run-up to the state election campaign (compared with 42 per cent in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).

Insults and threats

Elected representatives and senior administrative staff at local government level also have to deal with hostility. For example, four in ten mayors from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (40 per cent) state that they have at some point been insulted or threatened in the course of their duties.

In Saxony-Anhalt, this figure rises to just under six in ten elected representatives (59 per cent). Nevertheless, the proportion of those affected who have at some point considered withdrawing from local politics due to such hostility is significantly higher in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (42 per cent) than in Saxony-Anhalt (17 per cent).

The survey was commissioned by the Körber Foundation as a follow-up study to the ‘Starkes Mandat’ action programme and carried out by the opinion research institute Forsa. Between 3 July and 17 August 2026, 232 mayors (MV: 171, SA: 61), 434 councillors (MV: 271, SA: 163) and 123 senior local government officials (MV: 79, SA: 44) took part in the online survey.