Another factor in Nazi support was also age. The party had been rendered as a youthful, dynamic party. The membership was younger than that of other parties with an average age during from 1925 to 1933 being 29 years. Youth support, however, is not altogether a factor on its own and must be put into consideration with the much wider issues of class and denomination. 47 per cent of new Nazi members were workers, an over-representative 20 per cent were white-collar employees and more so 27 per cent were the self-employed old middle class. The KPD were still successful in picking up a significant of the German youth contingent but this support was located among the unemployed and manual workers of the large towns. Therefore the Nazis consistently picked up more votes among all factors in the rural areas and those of the middle class. Effectively, it shows the class issue affects many of the factors, for even though the Nazis picked up a large amount of youthful votes; many were still from rural, middle-class background - a classic Nazi voting ‘hotspot’. The variations, in this case those of the working class youths; occurred perhaps much more due to the fact the youths were newly enfranchised and had previously lacked strong political or ideological ties. Also, many of the youths were found unemployed but had not been fully integrated into the Communist sub-culture. The Nazi party effectively appeared to be the radical movement that were offering them the best chance of ‘destroying the existing order’. Having said this, the Nazis were also very successful in gaining votes from the other side of the age spectrum. Pensioners and the elderly, particularly women, were the largest faction of previous non-voters in the early 1930s. The Nazis greatly appealed to them, especially those whose pensions had greatly decreased in value. One of the Nazi party’s points in the original 25-point plan was to ensure provision for old age, hence they appealed greatly to the geriatric contingent of the Weimar Republic.
Nonetheless, one of the factors in Nazi support that affected other factors such as gender and age was that of denomination. The Nazis won a higher share of the vote in Protestant areas rather than Catholic. In July 1932 the Nazi share of the vote was twice as high in Protestant areas as in Catholic. This inability to gain the Catholic vote was shown when the Catholic Centre party regularly gained 11-12 per cent of the vote and did not lose support to the Nazis. There were atypical examples of Catholic areas voting for Nazi, due to coloured political identity and social class. This political stance was one of defiance against Poland in towns in Silesia, where there were strong nationalist grievances. Also the middle class Catholics were the most susceptible to voting for the Nazi movement on the grounds that benefited their social status. Ultimately there are two explanations on the whole for the lack Catholic Nazi vote. Prior to 1933, the Roman Catholic Church was hostile to the Nazi movement but also the relatively high degree of loyalty of the Church membership and the obedience of the priesthood perhaps explains for the reluctance to vote Nazi on the Catholic part. Also, the Protestant churches were almost very sympathetic to the Nazi movement, in which some members of the clergy actively encouraged it.
Ultimately, however, perhaps one of the biggest factor that determined who voted Nazi was that of the social class. It has traditionally been thought that Nazism gained from the support of the German Mittelstand, who were reacting against big business, trade unions and high government taxes. The Nazi party were seen as a reactionary party, aiming at restoring order, defeating Communism and trade unions. The Mittelstand found this view of the party to be very appealing and effectively held true to German tradition, something of which the Nazi party had continually argued for - Germany first. The Nazi party were seen as the obvious party to protect the Mittelstand, the ‘backbone of the nation’ and an incredible bulk of the population, for they felt threatened by many factors. The Mittelstand were threatened by capitalism, department stores destroying small business, and the poor (for the possibly anarchy of the Trade Unions). For the past ten years there was also a growth of anti-Semitic scapegoating, of which was extremely popular within the Nazi party. It is effectively apparent that the Nazis were a perfectly suitable party for the Mittelstand to vote. The ‘new’ Mittelstand, however, (the white-collar workers) were much more likely to vote for the SPD than the Nazis but significant numbers of the upper middle classes and manual workers did vote for the Nazi movement. Although somewhat contradicting what the Mittelstand saw in the Nazi party, the workers saw the Nazi movement as a revolutionary party intent on ending all prejudices and particularly the elitism of the upper classes. Also many workers voted for the Nazis as they worked in heavily industrialised but small-scale industrial units with less influence from trade unions.
In conclusion different groups deserted other parties in favour of the Nazis for different reasons. The main factor that contributed to this however was that of social class. The Nazis were seen as either reactionary (which favoured the Mittelstand and upper-classes) or revolutionary (favouring the workers). Although contradicting each other, the party ultimately gained some support from all corners of German society, effectively a Volkspartei - which, although did not secure a majority in the Reichstag and immediately instate Hitler into power, contributed heavily to the events that followed in 1933.
