Germany: AfD Surges to Tie for First Place as Establishment Party ‘Crashes’ After Election Win

Six weeks after voters in Germany went to the polls for the federal elections, there appears to be growing dissatisfaction with the outcome, as more Germans shift their support to the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

According to the latest survey from Insa on behalf of the Bild newspaper, the AfD has soared to a record 24 per cent support. This puts the upstart party on par with the election-winning ‘Union’ of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), which collectively also now stand at 24 per cent in support.

This represents a dramatic switch from the February elections, when the Union received 28.5 per cent of the vote, compared to 20.8 per cent for the AfD, meaning that the CDU/CSU has lost the support of one in six of its voters since the election.

“The Union is crashing dramatically. There has never been such a loss of approval between the federal election and the formation of a government,” Insa chief Hermann Binkert said.

After winning the election, CDU leader Friedrich Merz immediately entered into coalition talks with the Social Democrats (SPD) despite voters clearly rejecting the leftist party at the ballot box after years of failed governance under outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The SPD currently stands at 16 per cent in the polls, followed by the Greens and The Left, both of whom stand at 11 per cent.

Merz had boxed himself into working with the left-wing party, given that he had previously vowed to uphold the “firewall” of establishment parties refusing to work with the AfD.

By immediately announcing his intention to form a government with the SPD, Merz lost much of his ability to negotiate during talks with the left-wing party, which continue to this day, leaving the country without a government for a month and a half since the election.

Thus, Merz was forced to cave to demands from the SPD and the far-left Greens before he even came to power.

For example, he retracted his hardline immigration rhetoric. He broke his vow to be a fiscal conservative by agreeing to a trillion euro spending package, which was split between defence, infrastructure, and green agenda items.

“Many voters get the impression that the Union has not yet prevailed in the coalition talks. Many voters are disappointed by this,” said Binkert.

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