Germany’s establishment parties appear totally incapable of slowing the AfD’s surge in popularity across the country and may soon have no choice but to scrap their ‘firewall,’ which forbids cooperation. In some areas, especially in the eastern parts of the country, this policy might not matter soon anyway, with the anti-immigration party looking close to entering government.
In the latest poll conducted by the major pollster INSA for Bild, the AfD scored 27% nationally—its highest score yet. Party official Michael Immel hailed that the party is “heading towards 30% in big strides.” AfD co-leader Alice Weidel added that “there’s even more to come.”
Die AfD erreicht nach der neuesten Insa-Umfrage für die Bild bundesweit erstmals 27 % und steuert in großen Schritten auf die 30 % zu. pic.twitter.com/nxVF7LN6sQ
Meanwhile, the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition scored its worst result in six years, thanks in part to the SPD’s (and, separately, the Greens’) continued decline. The poll suggests that if an election were held today, the coalition government would win only 38.5% of the vote—far from a majority in the Bundestag.
With this movement clearly taking place in just one direction, some officials from Friedrich Merz’s CDU—especially those based in eastern Germany, where the AfD last week crossed the 40% mark in a regional poll for the first time—have begun to publicly question the feasibility of maintaining the firewall.
As we noted in our latest EuroCon Weekly email newsletter, establishment forces might have to change their stances since it seems there could be no stable coalition possible without the AfD’s involvement.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
