Sustaining Success Beyond the Core: Campaign Posters and the Professionalization of the AfD

Abstract

As the AfD has sought to solidify its position and appeal to a wider range of voters, the use of election campaign posters has emerged as a crucial strategy for conveying party professionalization. In this chapter, we attempt to demonstrate that while the AfD’s political ideology has lurched rightward with each subsequent election, and while the party continuously signals to its core supporters far-right ideological positions, the party has attempted nonetheless to win less politically engaged voters by wearing a more moderate mask. As the AfD has evolved, it has recognized the importance of presenting itself as a professional and credible political entity to the broader electorate. Election campaign posters have thus become an essential tool for the party in attempting to achieve this goal. This chapter implements a comparative analysis of the AfD’s poster campaigns in the 2017 and 2021 federal elections, employing the method of political iconography.