AfD is clearly the second strongest force in Germany in surveys showing Australians feeding dingoes on K’gari (Fraser Island) – with bad consequences

The right-wing populist AfD has consolidated its position as the second strongest force in Germany, according to two new surveys.

In the ZDF’s new political barometer published on Friday by the Mannheim Elections Research Group, the party gained one percentage point to 21 percent, a record high according to the broadcaster. In the current German trend for the ARD “Morgenmagazin”, the AfD remains at 22 percent according to the Infratest Dimap research.

The strongest force is still the CDU/CSU with an unchanged 26 percent in the ZDF political barometer and 28 percent (-1) in the ARD Germany trend. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD obtained 17 (−2) or 16 percent (+/−0).

The Greens, who govern together with Scholz, can each improve by one percentage point to 16 and 15 percent respectively. The third partner in the ‘traffic light coalition’, the FDP, obtained 6 (−1) or 7 percent (+1). The left remains at 5 percent in the political barometer and at 4 percent in the German trend.

In principle, election surveys only reflect opinions at the time of the survey and are not predictions of election results. They are also always subject to uncertainty. Among other things, the weakening ties between the parties and increasingly short-term decisions make it more difficult for opinion research institutes to weigh the collected data. The Infratest Dimap Institute, which works for the German trend in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”, and the election research group indicate a statistical error tolerance of two to three percentage points.

For the German trend, Infratest Dimap surveyed 1,222 eligible voters in Germany on September 12 and 13. The ZDF’s political barometer is collected by the Mannheim Elections Research Group. From September 12 to 14, 1,201 eligible voters were surveyed. The surveys are representative of the voting population in Germany.

The AfD (Alternative for Germany), founded in 2013, is classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist. In the 2021 federal election it was 10.3 percent. On Thursday, a vote in Thuringia’s state parliament caused an uproar when the AfD voted in favor of a CDU proposal to reduce property transfer taxes, allowing the country to gain a majority. Thuringia is governed by a minority government consisting of the left, the SPD and the Greens. (rbu/sda/dpa)