For the first time in history, AfD matched the winner of the recent elections in voting intention
The support of Germans for the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) reached the same level as that of the German conservatives, who are center-right, according to a survey released this Saturday.
The poll, conducted by the INSA institute for the newspaper Bild, is published six weeks after the federal elections in Germany, in which the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its ally, the Christian Social Union (CSU), emerged as winners.
According to the latest data, the conservative CDU/CSU coalition has 24% support, exactly the same percentage as the AfD.
Since the last survey conducted shortly after the elections on February 23, support for the conservatives dropped by two percentage points, while the AfD gained one point. The decline in the approval level of the conservative coalition can be explained by their willingness to form a government with the center-left, instead of allying with AfD.
Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the German center-left, which suffered a loss of more than a third of its votes in the elections, remains at 16% in this new survey, maintaining its position in the electoral preference table.
Both The Greens and the Left party are tied, with 11% of voting intention each. The survey was based on interviews conducted with 1,206 people between March 31 and April 4.
Although Germany's main parties have reiterated their refusal to ally with Alternative for Germany (AfD), the results of the latest survey raise questions about the viability of maintaining that position against the right, especially if the party begins to lead the voting intention polls.
After achieving the best result in the party's history, AfD leader Alice Weidel stated: "AfD can no longer be ignored." Through a post on the social network X, Weidel expressed that citizens "don't want another left-wing government in which the CDU/CSU allows the SPD and The Greens to impose their policies." She also argued that the time has come for a "true political change."
Weidel was referring to the ongoing negotiations between the conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democrats of the SPD to form the next coalition government. Currently, The Greens are part of the tripartite led by the still left-wing chancellor, Olaf Scholz.