Germans Not Turned Off By Merz’s Far-Right Collaboration, New Poll Shows

By Nick Alipour

(EurActiv) — Germany‘s election frontrunner Friedrich Merz received a boost in a hotly anticipated poll released on Thursday, which suggested that voters are not yet punishing his controversial approach to the far right.

The lead candidate for the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) had invited the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) to help him push a number of motions through parliament last week, undermining a long-standing convention of non-cooperation between established and far-right forces.

According to an ARD Deutschlandtrend poll released on Thursday, Merz‘s party has gained support following the move.

The CDU/CSU gained one percentage point compared to the previous week, now polling at 31%. The AfD also gained one percentage point and now stands at 21% in second place.

Merz also gained signifcantly in personal popularity (+4 percentage points) and as a preferred pick for chancellor (+5 percentage points), though the incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz also gained six points on the latter.

Support for Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, on the other hand, remains at 15%, while the Greens fell by one point to 14%. Both parties had vocally criticised Merz‘s move.

The poll, conducted this week between Monday and Wednesday, was one of the first to cover the fallout from a dramatic week in the German parliament.

Last Wednesday, Merz managed to pass a non-binding motion with support from the AfD that called for the implementation of a harsh five-point plan on migration, including the rejection of all irregular migrants and asylum seekers at the German border. An attempt to push through a milder legislative proposal failed due to absentees among the CDU/CSU‘s own ranks.

Observers interpreted Merz‘s manoeuvre as a strategic move to show resolve on the matter of migration after a man who arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker stabbed two people to death in Aschaffenburg last month, among them a two-year-old boy.

The new poll confirms a trend of that emerged in earlier polling this week, which shows that voters are not rushing to punish Merz. While one poll released on Tuesday had the CDU/CSU down by two points, two other releases did not register any changes.

Despite Merz’s improved popularity numbers, Thursday’s ARD Deutschlandtrend poll also found that 49% of respondents considered it unacceptable to introduce legislative motions if they could only be passed with AfD support, while 44% found it acceptable.