Lenin's Tomb has a comment on an article in Die Zeit which shows Germany's voters in a decidedly left tilt. Interesting in contrast to a recent claim (on this list, I think) that Social Democratic parties in Europe have generally weakened and moved to the center, in the style of Britain's Labor Party.
(I cant read German anymore, so I have to take Lenin's word for it.)
Note the programs below that receive strong support from even right-wing/free market groups:
"there is a sizeable swing to the Left. Only 11% of voters identify themselves as being right-wing, while 34% of voters place themselves on the left. The votes from the centre splits in several different directions, obviously, but it's significant that the Left Party picks up a substantial portion of voters who consider themselves centrists. Further, not only do more voters identify themselves as being left-wing, but if you go to the report (or do a Babelfish translation of the story), you find that voters for right-wing parties favour the left's programme. For example, 68% of voters for the right-wing FDP support a mininum wage, while 57% support reducing the pension age, 82% support free childcare (slightly more than Linke supporters), and most oppose privatisation as well. All of these positions are popular with most voters, but their acceptance by supporters of an aggressively free-market party signals how broadly as well as deeply these ideas are held. . . "
BobW