Focus group set "AfD voters" (PLEDGE)

This dataset contains transcripts from a set of focus groups conducted with voters of the German "Alternative für Deutschland" (AfD), collected in 2025 and 2026. The purpose of this dataset is to identify affective practices, group interactions, and emotional grievances in political groups. Authors and Contributors This set of focus groups was designed and conducted by: Prof. Gavin Brent Sullivan (IPU Berlin; ORCID: 0000-0003-0146-5953), Philipp Wunderlich (IPU Berlin; ORCID: 0000-0002-6707-3672), Jonas Rudolph (IPU Berlin; ORCID: 0009-0004-9549-4564). The resulting dataset was collected under the Politics of Grievance and Democratic Governance (PLEDGE) EU-Horizon project, project number 101132560. Data Collection and Methodology The focus group guide was developed between August and December 2024 in collaboration with the PLEDGE consortium partners. A questionnaire to survey sociodemographic in-formation of participants was developed alongside the guide. The focus groups were online using MS Teams video conferencing software, in compliance with GDPR. The sample consisted of medium to strongly identifying voters of the AfD that were recruited out of the pool of participants of the PLEDGE project's longitudinal survey. We included self-identified AfD voters who reported a a partisan identification of 3 and above on a 5-point scale. Audio recordings and video recordings were produced using the video conferencing software. Transcripts were generated by large language models (model: whisper large-v2) and were de-identified and corrected by human researchers, based on the original recordings. An English translation of the German original was produced by large language models (model: gemma3-4b) and likewise corrected by human translators. File Overview The dataset consists of four transcripts as .docx files. Each file contains the transcript of the German original alongside an English translation: AFD1-de-en-final.docx AFD2-de-en-final.docx AFD3-de-en-final.docx AFD4-de-en-final.docx AFD5-de-en-final.docx Metadata Overview over the set of focus groups: Focus group AFD1: Date: 08.12.2025; Participants: 6 (2 Female, 4 Male); Duration: 02:04.44 Focus group AFD2: Date: 09.12.2025; Participants: 6 (3 Female, 3 Male); Duration: 02:03.10 Focus group AFD3: Date: 26.01.2026; Participants: 6 (3 Female, 3 Male); Duration: 02:16.03 Focus group AFD4: Date: 17.02.2026; Participants: 4 (1 Female, 3 Male); Duration: 02:08.18 Focus group AFD5: Date: 18.02.2026; Participants: 4 (1 Female, 3 Male); Duration: 02:14.22 Total participants: 26 (10 Female, 16 Male) Usage Notes The transcript files are in MS Word format (.docx) and can be opened using Microsoft Word or compatible applications. Ethical and Legal Considerations The study follows Horizon Europe ethics requirements, national regulations, and institutional review standards. Ethics approval was granted on 12 March 2025 by the IPU Berlin Ethics Committee under Application No. 2024_06. Access and Licensing Due to the sensitivity of the data, access to the full transcripts is restricted and can only be granted to researchers upon request. While transcripts have been fully anonymized/pseudonymized, the risk of re-identification of political activists cannot be completely ruled out. Access may be granted upon request to researchers for academic/non-commercial purposes. Requests must include a short justification and will be reviewed by the data owner. For access requests, please contact: Prof. Dr. Gavin Sullivan, IPU Berlin ([e-mail]) All rights reserved, Copyright (C) 2026 The Authors Citation Please cite as follows (APA format): Sullivan, G. B., Wunderlich, P., & Rudolph, J. V. (2026). Focus group set „AfD voters“ (PLEDGE) [Dataset]. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20765386 Contact Information Please contact Prof. Dr. Gavin Sullivan ([e-mail]) if you have questions about the dataset or want to request access.