Shortly before the chancellor election: Merz wins latest poll and puts the AfD in its place

Merkur Shortly before the chancellor election: Merz wins latest poll and puts the AfD in its place Bedrettin Bölükbasi • 7 hours • 2 minutes read Friedrich Merz - A skeptical view of Friedrich Merz: His approval ratings have room to improve – even before he has even been elected chancellor. Gap widens Shortly before the chancellor election: Merz wins latest poll and puts the AfD in its place A few days before the chancellor election, the CDU/CSU is gaining support, according to the ZDF Politbarometer. The AfD and the Greens are losing ground, according to the latest poll. Berlin – Shortly before the planned election of Friedrich Merz (CDU) as chancellor, the CDU/CSU is once again in first place, well ahead of the AfD, according to the ZDF Politbarometer. If there were a federal election next Sunday, the CDU and CSU would reach 27 percent according to the Politbarometer – an increase of one percentage point compared to the previous barometer in mid-April. The AfD fell slightly to 23 percent (-1 percent), but remains the second strongest party. Poll shortly before the chancellor election: Merz again widens the gap to the AfD According to the latest poll, the SPD remains at 15 percent. The Greens lose one point, reaching 11 percent. The Left Party remains stable at 10 percent. The FDP (4 percent) and the BSW (3 percent) remain below the five percent hurdle. Other recent polls had recently placed the AfD ahead of or on par with the CDU/CSU. In a survey conducted by the Forsa Institute for RTL/ntv a few days ago, for example, the AfD was ahead of the CDU/CSU with 26 percent, while the CDU/CSU reached 24 percent. On the same day that ZDF announced the party's declining poll numbers, it made headlines with another announcement. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the entire AfD as right-wing extremist. CDU/CSU 27 percent AfD 23 percent SPD 15 percent Greens 11 percent Left Party 10 percent FDP 4 percent BSW 3 percent ZDF Politbarometer: Divided opinion on the new government's problem-solving skills CDU leader Friedrich Merz is set to be elected Chancellor on Tuesday. Opinions are divided on the general problem-solving skills of his future federal government. 48 percent of respondents to the ZDF Politbarometer believe that the CDU/CSU-Red coalition will make an important contribution to addressing the country's challenges. Almost as many – 47 percent – ​​doubt this. The rest of the respondents answered "don't know." In terms of content, respondents expect economic policy initiatives from the future federal government under Friedrich Merz. When asked which of the five proposed areas of focus the new government should prioritize, 45 percent named "economy" and 21 percent named "social affairs." According to the Politbarometer, only 12 percent consider "asylum/refugees" to be the most urgent issue, while 10 percent each consider "defense" and "climate protection." The remaining 2 percent indicated "don't know." Shortly before Merz's election as chancellor: A clear stance toward Trump is called for After the first 100 days of Donald Trump's administration, 74 percent of respondents advocate for the Merz administration to take a hard line against the US president. Only 14 percent favor accommodating his demands. Election polls are generally subject to uncertainty. Among other things, declining party ties and increasingly short-term voting decisions make it difficult for polling institutes to weight the collected data. Polls generally reflect only the prevailing opinion at the time of the survey and are not predictions of possible election outcomes. (bb/dpa)