The latest “ZDF Politbarometer” survey by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen team puts the rightwing opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 27 percent, four points ahead of the governing Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) with 23 percent. The latter’s government coalition partner Social Democrats is down to 12 percent. The two other opposition parties Greens and the leftwing Linke are seen at 14 and 13 percent respectively.
The gap between the AfD and all the other parties is even larger in the German eastern states: polls see the party at 40-42 percent in Saxe-Anhalt and 32-35 percent in Mecklenburg-Prepomerania which will have elections for state parliament in September. In Saxe-Anhalt, the CDU is 13-15 percent behind the AfD.
