Parties’ connections to social groups are critical to their electoral success, particularly in contexts of de- and realignment of voter loyalties. The literature emphasizes that demographic characteristics can become salient social identities, which parties can mobilize through direct group-based appeals to strengthen party-group linkages. However, existing research mostly infers group memberships from demographics, neglecting the importance of identification strength. We argue that party-group linkages positively influence vote choice only when voters strongly identify with the relevant social group. If a voter belongs to a group “on paper” but lacks a strong sense of belonging, a party’s representation of that group’s interests is unlikely to sway their vote. Our study examines how voters perceive party commitments to social groups and how these perceptions influence electoral behaviour. We hypothesize that voters are more likely to support a party if they believe it strongly represents the social groups they identify with. The stronger their identification with those groups, the stronger this effect is likely to be. We test this assumption using novel survey data from the German National Election Study (GLES Tracking). By highlighting the role of identity strength, this paper advances our understanding of a claim in social group appeals research, for which evidence is still rather scarce, namely that voters recognize and electorally reward parties' group images.