Berlin [Germany], June 14:Germany's right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has overtaken Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) to become the country's second strongest political party, according to a survey published on Tuesday by Trendbarometer.
By attracting voters dissatisfied with the current government, AfD gained two percentage points within one week, and would win 19 percent of the vote if Bundestag elections were held now, while the SPD would gain 18 percent, Trendbarometer said.
Although the conservative CDU/CSU union under opposition leader Friedrich Merz lost one percentage point, it is still clearly leading the polls in Germany, with 29 percent. The union was narrowly defeated by the SPD in the last election after 16 years in government under former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
According to the poll having surveyed some 2,504 voters, the SPD's two coalition partners, the Greens and the liberal FDP party, would follow with 14 and 7 percent of votes respectively.
Compared to the 2021 election, support for all governing parties has fallen. The major opposition parties, on the other hand, have seen their popularity increase. The CDU/CSU gained just under five percentage points while the AfD almost managed to double its last results, according to Trendbarometer.
For the AfD in particular, being critical of the government has paid off. According to a recent poll by public broadcaster ARD, only one in three potential voters for the right-wing populist party actually supported the party's policies and two in three would only consider voting for AfD out of disappointment with the other parties.
Source: Xinhua