The far right has widened its lead over Chancellor Merz's bloc to a record 8%

The German far-right party "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) has significantly strengthened its lead in voter preferences, widening the gap with the conservative CDU/CSU bloc led by incumbent Chancellor Friedrich Merz. 

This is evidenced by the results of a recent opinion poll conducted by the INSA institute.

According to the survey, which was conducted between June 1 and 5, the political forces in German society are ranked as follows:

• “Alternative for Germany” (AfD): holds a solid first place with a record support rating of 29%.

• The CDU/CSU bloc: lost one percentage point compared to the previous month and currently has a rating of 21%, which has increased its gap behind the leader to 8%.

• The Greens: lead the trio of left-wing parties with 14%.

• Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): ranks next, with 12% voter support.

• "The Left" (Die Linke): rounds out the top five parties with 11%.

Meanwhile, the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the left-populist “Sari Wagenknecht Alliance” (BSW) posted low results, garnering only 3% of the vote each, which prevents them from clearing the mandatory 5% threshold for entering the Bundestag.

Pollsters also recorded a sharp drop in the personal popularity of Chancellor Friedrich Merz following his first year in office. Public dissatisfaction with his performance has reached a critical level: a record 77% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with his work at the helm of the cabinet, which is 6 percentage points higher than in April. Meanwhile, the number of citizens who view the chancellor’s work positively has dropped by 4 percentage points compared to May’s figures and currently stands at just 15%.

Source: dpa.

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