The problem is, that the AfD slowly drifted from very conservative to far right, and for a pretty long time, they managed to seem sufficiently “bürgerlich” not to be legally extremist. It was perfectly clear that they were nazis, even years ago, but not provable.

Add to that the two unsuccessful attempts to ban the even more right and NPD. They were afraid to fail again.

Regarding the current 19%, Germany’s political, economic, and media system somehow paint itself into a corner. The politicians are largely out of ideas, they’re all fighting about petty conflicts, there’s hardly anything being done. Not that bad laws are enacted, nothing happens. The country runs on autopilot into a very obvious wall, and the politicians fight who can sit in the pilot’s seat. It’s a simulacrum.

The economic system is eroding away. The old German model doesn’t work anymore, and the old conglomerates just switched to subsidies and rent seeking, no investment, no changes. Volkswagen wants to scale back EVs in favor of ICEs.

The media are dominated by public access outlets, who are largely afraid to be critical, because someone could call them biased, and private media spreading hate for clicks.

So, Germany is currently in a pretty bad situation and many many people see that, but don’t see anyone actually doing anything about it. But because they are bombarded with hate, they choose AfD. Absolutely stupid decision, but these people just lost every bit of trust in the system. And honestly, I blame the system.