By Florian Gut, dpa I Friday, Nov. 2024
BERLIN – With elections due in just over three months’ time, Germany’s conservative opposition is riding high in the opinion polls. Fresh elections are to be held on February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s governing coalition.
The opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have a clear advantage in the polls, with 33% of voters signalling support for the centre-right bloc led by Friedrich Merz. This was a slight increase from the previous survey.
Germans are set to go to the polls early, rather than in September, after Scholz dismissed his finance minister last week following months of wrangling over the 2025 budget.
After he was sacked, Christian Lindner’s pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) withdrew from the coalition, leaving the chancellor without a majority in the Bundestag, or lower house. Scholz has been criticized for dismissing Lindner, but insisted his decision was “correct and unavoidable” in a speech on Wednesday.
He called on lawmakers to pull together and pass crucial bills before the vote, in his first public comments since the new date was agreed.
“Let us act united. It would be good for our country,” he said, adding: “The path of compromise remains the only right path.”
But Scholz has a mountain to climb if he is to retain his position after the election, with his SPD polling on 15% and the Greens, who are likely to pick Economy Minister Robert Habeck as their candidate for chancellor later this week, currently on 11%.
The survey of 2,193 respondents was carried out by YouGov between November 8 and 12, and showed little change for other parties.
The far-right Alternative for Germany AfD had 19% support, up one percentage point, while new populist party the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance had 7%, down one percentage point.
The FDP and the Left Party remain unchanged at 5% and 3% respectively, meaning both would struggle to enter the Bundestag.
What has changed is that respondents appeared more concerned about the economy, a key issue as Germany’s economy weakens. Those who were concerned about the economy represented 14% of the respondents, up from 8% in the last poll, carried out in October.
Migration, meanwhile, was less of a concern, cited by 23%, down from 32% in the past survey.
