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Only 4 percent of the people who live here [Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania] are actually foreign-born. And even fewer of those are refugees. So there's not a whole lot of experience with refugees here.
This is something that Alternative for Germany, which is the party that's coming up from behind and is expected to actually beat [Angela] Merkel's party today, they're exploiting that fear in people who don't really have a whole lot of experience with integration.
Having said that, people here [in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania] watch the TV. And they hear critics of her policies talk about how more than a million people coming here last year from various war-torn countries and also seeking economic help are going to, like, destroy the fabric of the society.
Having said that, Angela Merkel's electoral district is here [ in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania].And so, if Chancellor Merkel loses here, her party, which has ruled in a coalition government for the last decade here with the Social Democrats - if they lose today, then it's really a very significant slap to the face, if you will. And this is coming at a time when the chancellor is being asked to decide whether she will stand for another term.
There are other concerns in this state [of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania], which is one of the prettiest. It's also one of the poorest, where people here are making less than the national average. Unemployment is higher than the national average, and a lot of the young people, especially, have left because there just aren't jobs and that sort of thing. So you have that going on, the feeling that that hasn't really changed in years or at least with their help - with the last state government.