A study by Swiss sociologists on behalf of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany has now provided exciting insights into the lateral thinker scene in Baden-Württemberg. The German federal state is most comparable to Vorarlberg not only in terms of geography, but also in terms of population structure, which is why the results of the study could also meet with interest in this country.
It has been known for a long time that not all opponents of the measure are right-wing voters, but the sociologists have now derived the knowledge from the results that it makes a difference where the people come from.
According to this, lateral thinkers from the western federal state are more bourgeois, politically not necessarily right-wing and financially better off than those in eastern Germany and Austria. Researchers refer to it as a “qualified center movement”. The average age is rather high and is 47 years, many of them are well educated, employed full-time, and some even have doctorates.
Around 30 percent of those surveyed also stated that they voted for the Greens earlier. In principle, many people can be assigned to the anthroposophical milieu, e.g. Naturopaths, esotericists or followers of spiritual beliefs, which are known to be particularly well represented in the south-west of the Federal Republic. In the meantime, many of them would no longer vote – or support the vaccine-skeptical AfD.
In a contribution to “Tichys Insight”, the author Klaus-Jürgen Gadamer also warns against losing sight of another group. He is convinced that there is pronounced skepticism about vaccinations even within migrant milieus from the Middle East. In his opinion, they would not join the protests, but cut themselves off from the outside world.
