Germany's Greens take lead in new opinion polls
26 April, 2021
Germany's Greens continued their rise on Sunday, overtaking Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in an opinion poll five months before an over-all election.
The centre-left opposition party rose to 28 % in a poll for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, gaining six percentage points on the prior week for its best score in the regular survey completed by the Kantar institute.
Mrs Merkel's centre-right Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union alliance lost two points, at 27 per cent support.
The centre-left Social Democrats, her junior coalition partners, fell to their worst score since August 2019 with 13 %.
The Greens' boost in popularity employs the party on Monday named co-chair Annalena Baerbock, 40, as its first prospect for chancellor.
The nomination of Ms Baerbock, a centrist who advocates a greener economy and a tougher foreign policy stance on Russia and China, has been widely praised.
She'll be the only woman in the race to achieve success Mrs Merkel, who's bowing out after 16 years.
"Germans are in the mood for change," Bild reported.
Another opinion poll last Tuesday, for broadcasters RTL and NTV, was the first to put the Greens in the lead, also providing them with 28 per cent support.
But political scientist Oskar Niedermayer at Berlin's Free University said the Green surge was mainly caused by "media hype" that was unlikely to last.
The Greens are polling well among a wide range of voters, but this will change when their election manifesto becomes "more concrete", Mr Niedermayer said.
A number of the newly won supporters "will drift away again", he told the Handelsblatt financial daily.
Mrs Merkel's ruling conservatives have slumped in recent polls as voters punish them for perceived mistakes in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, corruption scandals and infighting.
Her bloc the other day named CDU leader and North Rhine-Westphalia state premier Armin Laschet as its prospect for chancellor last week, after a bitter contest with CSU leader Markus Soeder.
But Mr Laschet, promoted as a continuity candidate as Germany enters the post-Merkel era, is deeply unpopular among Germans.
Observers say there is a realistic chance that the CDU-CSU will not be Germany's greatest political force following the September 26 vote.
Bavarian premier Mr Soeder, who stepped aside in the race despite strong support and higher approval ratings than Mr Laschet, said at the weekend he was "not convinced" by his rival's candidacy.
The CDU/CSU bloc "needs a fresh start", he told the Sueddeutsche newspaper.
Mr Laschet sought to play down the dispute in the same newspaper, saying his priority was to ensure the conservatives were "the largest power" in German politics.
He also criticised Ms Baerbock's insufficient governing experience.
"She talks. I do something," he said.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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