Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) have pulled ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives for the first time in 15 years, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday (24 August), just a month before the country’s federal election, Euractiv.com reports.
Germany goes to the polls on 26 September, when Merkel steps down as chancellor after 16 years in office and four straight national election victories.
Support for Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has been falling steadily in recent weeks.
The SPD was up 2 percentage points compared to a week ago on 23%, while the CDU/CSU slipped a point to 22% and the Greens are down a point at 18%, according to the Forsa poll for RTL/NTV. Forsa said this was the first time that the SPD had been ahead of the CDU/CSU since October 2006, with the latest rating for Merkel’s party at its lowest level since the polling institute was set up in 1984.
