Brussels (Brussels Morning) The German Greens party surged ahead in the latest poll to overtake the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), reaching the top spot for the first time since the party’s founding, Der Spiegel reported.
A Forsa poll commissioned by RTL gave 28% to the Greens, seven points ahead of the CDU, which has reached its historic low with 21% support among the voters. Junior partners in the ruling coalition, the Social Democrats (SPD) polled at 13%, barely ahead of the liberal FDP (12%) and the far-right AfD (11%), while the far left Linke polled at 7%.
Trend could continue
Since the poll was concluded on 20 April, most of the respondents had not been exposed to the end of the infighting within the Christian democratic bloc over their joint candidate for chancellor, and many were polled before the Greens announced party co-president Annalene Baerbock as their candidate for chancellor.
Considering the CDU and its Bavarian sister-party CSU chose CDU head Armin Laschet as their joint candidate, a less popular option among the voters, future polls could show an even bigger drop in CDU’s support. The party, which has dominated German politics for the past 15 years, has never had a result worse than 25% in federal elections since it was founded after the Second World War.
Shot at chancellorship
The CDU has been leeching support for months now, due to the government’s perceived failures in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and mounting a successful vaccine rollout, and it has taken more hits since as a series of CDU and CSU politicians were cited for their involvement in PPE procurement scandals during the pandemic. The long and uncertain process of choosing the chancellor candidate also eroded support for CDU.
The Greens, on the other hand, are on an upward swing, and the current seven-point lead gives Baerbock a serious shot at the chancellorship and a wide choice of possible coalition partners.
