Probably all the insane media coverage calling the afD the new Nazi party had something to do with it. Every European channel was the same.
If that were true, they wouldn’t have done as well as they did. The fact that Alice Weidel was at the TOP of the ticket though, for the highest office in the land, *may* have had something to do with them ultimately not going over the edge. Germany’s version of “swing voters” may have had their reservations given factors like the aforementioned.