Publication

Had the German parliamentary elections been held on the 11th instead of the 18th September, the media trend in the preceding week – after the TV debate – would clearly have indicated a result closer to the actual outcome: Relative to the polls, the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) would have lost and the Social Democrats (SPD) would have won. The media pressure on the Christian Democrats was enormous, especially because the media picked up the SPD campaign against Paul Kirchhof, the tax expert in Angela Merkel’s campaign team. Yet in the week before the elections, the media pressure on the CDU/CSU clearly subsided, without benefiting the party on election day.