On a wet evening in Suhl, in the former East Germany, a smattering of youthful faces were among hundreds lining up to hear from an unlikely idol - Björn Höcke, one of the most controversial figures in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Musk won AfD a massive new audience, and JD Vance added support. That brought the party outsized attention, but the impact in Germany was limited, data shows.

When it comes to courting controversy, there are few political rivals to Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). A former spokesman identified himself as a “fascist” in 2020, and later the same year talked nonchalantly about how refugees could be “shot or gassed” as he discussed how more migrants coming in would translate into polling gains for the AfD (“the worse it goes for Germany,