Berlin (dpa) – Just over a month before the German general election, the Social Democrats (SPD) have pulled ahead of the centre-right bloc of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), according to a survey that is bound to cause further consternation among the conservatives’ campaign.
In the poll published on Tuesday, carried out by the Forsa Institute for broadcasters RTL and ntv, the SPD came in at 23 per cent, just beating out the CDU/CSU at 22 per cent.
The SPD gained two percentage points since a survey last week saw them pull ahead of the Green Party and into second place.
The CDU/CSU’s previously solid lead in the polls has on the other hand crumbled in the past few weeks, putting increasing pressure on the party’s candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet. He is hoping to succeed longtime leader Angela Merkel, also from the CDU.
This is the first time in 15 years that the SPD has been measured as more popular than the CDU/CSU in the Forsa surveys. It is all the more remarkable given the SPD’s very poor start in the campaign, when they were largely written off as a significant political force by some observers.
According to Forsa, the conservative bloc’s result is its worst ever in surveys carried out by the institute.
The Greens slipped by one percentage point to 18 per cent and are now in third place. The pro-business Free Democrats remain unchanged at 12 per cent, the far-right Alternative for Germany at 10 per cent and the far-left Left Party at 6 per cent.
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