Support for Ukraine is dividing Germany more sharply than any other political issue. The question of Ukraine has replaced immigration as the most emotionally charged topic, according to a study published on Tuesday by the Mercator Forum on Migration and Democracy (MIDEM) at TU Dresden.
According to the findings, 54.1 per cent of respondents want Germany to continue supporting Ukraine and distance itself further from Russia. By contrast, 28.8 per cent favour closer relations with Russia.
Expectations surrounding integration are also shifting. According to the study, almost half of respondents (47 per cent) now believe that immigrants should not only learn German and respect the country's laws but also adopt German culture and way of life. This represents an increase of seven percentage points compared with the previous year.
Furthermore, a majority of 50.9 per cent believe that the redistribution of wealth from rich to poor is insufficient, while 25.5 per cent consider it excessive. The proportion of people who support greater redistribution has therefore declined slightly over the past year. However, the group that holds this position particularly strongly has grown significantly.
The so-called Polarisation Barometer examines 15 political issues to identify where divisions have widened since 2025 and which conflicts have become less contentious.
Across all the issues examined, people who identify themselves as politically right-wing view those with opposing opinions particularly negatively, according to the study. In a comparison between political parties, supporters of the AfD and the Greens are particularly likely to display this tendency.
Overall, four in five respondents (83 per cent) perceive German society as divided, around two percentage points more than in 2025. One in four even believes that society is deeply divided. This perception is particularly pronounced among people who identify as politically right-wing, those who support the AfD, East Germans and people on low incomes.
The debate over rainbow flags in public spaces was the only one of the 15 issues to become significantly less contentious. While a relative majority opposed rainbow flags last year, supporters and opponents are now almost evenly divided. According to the study, 31 per cent support displaying rainbow flags in public spaces, while 30.1 per cent oppose them.
MIDEM and the opinion research institute YouGov surveyed almost 20,000 people across eight EU countries in spring 2026, including nearly 2,800 respondents in Germany. MIDEM is a research centre at TU Dresden funded by the Mercator Foundation. It examines the forms, instruments and processes through which democratic societies address migration politically.
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