Only about 33 percent of respondents in recent opinion polls would
choose Germany's ruling CDU and CSU, its Bavarian sibling faction. The
surveys also found increased support for the anti-immigrant AfD party.
An opinion poll by Insa that attempted to predict the percentage of
votes a party would receive "if elections were to happen next Sunday,"
showed Chancellor Angela Merkel's
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian partner,
the Christian Social Union (CSU), with only 33 percent support, down one percentage point from the previous survey.
Two other opinion polls, by Emnid and electoral research group
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, showed the CDU-CSU alliance with 35 percent
support, also down by one point from polls earlier in March.
Despite the small dip in support for the chancellor, the poll by
Forschungsgruppe Wahlen found that 53 percent of respondents support
Merkel's refugee policy. Forty-two percent expressed dissatisfaction
with the refugee situation in Germany, down from 50 percent in a similar
poll conducted in February this year.
The Forschungsgruppe poll found that 55 percent of respondents believed
that the country could manage the challenges posed by the arrival of
large numbers of people - the first time a majority had expressed such
optimism since December, when 51 percent said Germany was up for the
task. In January, 57 percent of respondents said the country could not
handle it However, 42 percent of Germans remain skeptical of the idea
that Germany is up for such a challenge.
Support for AfD
All three opinion polls found a rise in support for
the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany
(AfD). An average of 13 percent of respondents said they supported the
party. However, 72 percent of the participants said they felt that AfD
was shifting further to the right.
Interestingly, only 55 percent of AfD supporters consider themselves
right-wing, according to the surveys. Forty-four percent call themselves
centrist, and 2 percent say they are left-wing, according to
Forschungsgruppe's survey results.
Support for
other parties in Germany remains unchanged, according to the polls. Merkel's coalition partners, the Social Democrats , had 22 percent support.
The opposition Greens
had support from 13 percent of respondents. The liberal Free Democrats
were at 6 percent. And the Left party polled an average of 8 percent in
all three surveys.
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