The CDU party of ruling Chancellor Friedrich Merz was smashed in the recent election in German state of Saxony-Anhalt, as voters gave the “outcast” Alternative for Germany (AfD) 44% to the CDU’s 17%. The CDU and the next three formerly “major” parties together barely equaled the vote of the AfD.

Then broadcaster ARD commissioned a nationwide poll of German voters and found that the CDU had around a 10% approval rating, reporting that “nine out of ten criticize Berlin’s government performance.” And Merz’s “planned social reforms contribute to the critical image of the coalition.” Only 14% expressed confidence in Merz’s ability to guide Germany successfully through the challenges ahead.

Tino Schomann, deputy leader of the CDU in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, became the first high-ranking CDU politician to call for Merz to resign. Schomann said the AfD’s landslide victory has “shown that [Merz] can’t do it…. In my view, he is unsuitable for the position, which requires uniting the country and solving its problems.”