They are basically throwing the electorate at them with all the new laws and proposals for Internet disconnection and all that. They probably don't even see it coming.
I think they're primarily throwing the non-electorate.
Many young people don't vote because they perceive it to be about boring, old people stuff they don't really get nor care about. They barely know what are inflation or the ECB fund rate, they certainly don't have any advice about who's going to act on it in the most constructive way.
Now mess with their Internets, and suddenly they understand what the poll is about. Politicians have tailored their rhetorics for a world in which retired people vote, whereas youngsters don't. It looks like it's changing.
Hypothesis: when you're young, you can dismiss these stuff and have no advice about them, because they're grown-ups stuff. As you age, you have to admit that they're for smarter people, not merely older ones.
Yeah, I think I'll stick with "not knowing what all that shit means, and being self aware enough to realize it".
How do you think Germany got suckered into the Euro in the first place?
However, I have to admit that I get a tiny weeny bit optimistic.
But: similar "interest group" parties (Grüne, anyone?) tend to lose their focus, and their competence, with time.
Summary: Too soon to tell.
Incumbent german politicians, from the "traditional" german parties, I think.
> and are both "they"s the same people?
That's how I read it.