SPD election results since 1949: Historic rise, records and crash

In the federal election on February 23, 2025, the SPD received 16.4 percent of the second votes according to the preliminary final result – its worst result since the founding of the Federal Republic.

In the past, however, the SPD has been able to collect significantly more votes. It was the strongest party in the German federal elections six times and provided the Federal Chancellor four times.

When was the SPD particularly strong in the federal elections - and when was it particularly weak? And in which federal states does the party have its strongholds? An overview of the election results.

The SPD experienced its strongest phase to date in the late 1960s to the early 1980s , particularly under Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt . Willy Brandt was the first SPD chancellor, serving from 1969 to 1974. In the 1972 federal election, the SPD won 45.8 percent of the second vote – a record that the party has not been able to break to this day. The second vote share was also high in the first two elections during Helmut Schmidt's term in office, at 42.6 percent in 1976 and 42.9 percent in 1980 .

In recent years, the SPD has not been able to repeat these results. The party's share of second votes has fallen significantly, especially since the 2009 federal elections. At that time, the SPD was at 23 percent . In 2017 , the SPD's share of the vote fell again - to 20.5 percent . In the 2025 federal election, the SPD only collected 16.4 percent of the second votes, according to the preliminary result. For the Social Democratic Party, which has long been considered a people's party and once united almost half of the voters behind it, this marks a historic low point.

The SPD's strongholds are traditionally in Hesse , Lower Saxony , North Rhine-Westphalia and the city states of Hamburg and Bremen . In Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, however, it is rather weak. The SPD often performs particularly poorly in Saxony and Thuringia.

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is the oldest political party in Germany (founded in 1863). The party has its roots in the workers' movement of the 19th century. Historically, the SPD has campaigned for the rights of the working class .

Today, the SPD is considered a center-left party. The central theme for the SPD is social justice . It stands for a strong and solidarity-based welfare state . In its election manifesto for the 2025 federal election, the party announced, among other things, that it would campaign for a higher minimum wage, a reduction in VAT on food and a reform of the debt brake.

It is still unclear what will happen to the SPD after the 2025 federal election. First, the parties must hold coalition talks . The leaders of the CDU/CSU and SPD have already exchanged views in initial talks. According to SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, however, it is ultimately the SPD members who will decide whether the party should form a government with the Union or not.

Whether as part of the government or the opposition , how the SPD can assert itself over the course of the next legislative period will be crucial to the party's success in the next elections. Among citizens, interest in the SPD seems to have recently declined dramatically. Data from Google shows that search interest in the party was 13 percent lower one month before the 2025 federal election than in the comparable period of the 2021 federal election.

Olaf Scholz is still in office as Federal Chancellor on an interim basis. But even after the change of government, he wants to remain a member of the Bundestag. In his constituency in Potsdam and the surrounding area, Scholz has once again won the direct mandate won. He wants to take advantage of this opportunity. However, Scholz rules out participating in coalition negotiations. In the ARD and ZDF top candidate round, he said that he would not be part of the next federal government as a representative of the SPD "and would not negotiate about it either."

If the exploratory talks between the SPD and the Union fail, the only possible option at present would be a coalition between the Union and the AfD on a theoretical majority in parliament. However, CDU candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz has ruled out such a coalition. If no stable coalition can be formed, there are two other options besides new elections. On the one hand, there is the possibility of a minority government. In this case, a party or a small coalition provides the chancellor, but must seek majorities for each law. This has never happened at the federal level, but has happened in federal states such as North Rhine-Westphalia or Saxony-Anhalt. A toleration model is also possible. In this case, a party governs without a fixed coalition, but with the support of individual factions, for example by tolerating the government by abstaining from voting.