Blown away or visually stunned? – The impact of visible wind turbines on radical right-wing mobilisation in German federal elections

Abstract

Do newly constructed wind turbines cause political backlash? This paper argues that both the effect of wind turbines on voting for anti-climate parties and the role of visual exposure to turbines have been largely overlooked. Drawing on data covering turbine locations, topography, settlement areas, and municipal-level electoral outcomes, I examine how newly built wind turbines affect the federal election results of the right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) by comparing vote share trends in municipalities with and without turbine exposure. The analysis using difference-in-differences models finds no significant effect of visible wind turbine construction on vote shares for the AfD across four federal elections (2013–2025). This null finding is robust to different treatment specifications, anticipation effects, and compositional changes. However, the study cannot fully account for potential endogeneity in treatment allocation, limiting the generalisability of the results. In sum, the findings imply that, given the current allocation of wind turbines, no sizeable mobilisation effect for the AfD can be found.