This may be the most important poll yet for the AfD and its future chances to wield real political power
Germany’s anti-immigration Alternative For Germany (AfD) party has seen a dramatic rise in the polls over the last year and is now clearly the second most popular party in the country. However, the question has always been whether the AfD could translate this polling support into a position of power in the German government. One key poll shows that the AfD may have a chance to make this a reality.
A poll by Civey for Spiegel magazine found that 47 percent of Germans say that they would find it acceptable if parties entered a coalition with the AfD at the state level.
The breakthrough poll shows that although all major parties reject cooperation with the AfD, the German public has a far more open view of the party, and this open view could translate into a shift in the stance of the major mainstream parties, namely the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
This is a shift from the German public that is difficult to imagine even a year ago, when the AfD was still largely shunned.
The poll also shows that support for the AfD’s role in a coalition government is higher in the east of Germany, which is no surprise.
In the east, 55 percent of Germans could support the AfD’s role in a government, whereas 44 percent of Germans in the west could support such a coalition...
