The national-conservative Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party continues to siphon off voters from Germany’s mainstream liberal parties, as middle- and working-class German voters grow increasingly dissatisfied with the status quo, with the latest opinion poll revealing, perhaps quite shockingly to many, that the anti-establishment party is now the second most popular in the country.
The opinion survey, carried out by the British international market research and analytics firm YouGov, has revealed that if federal elections were held today in Germany, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) would garner 17% of the vote, ahead of all three parties in the ruling left-liberal coalition, which has witnessed its popularity drop precipitously in the last half year to year.
According to data extracted from the survey, the liberal-conservative CDU party, whose support has risen more sharply than the AfD’s in the past six months, is now the most popular party in Germany, at 31%.
Meanwhile, across the entirety of the Federal Republic of Germany, popular support for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP), the Free Democratic Party (SDP), and the Greens—which collectively make up the ruling ‘stop light’ coalition—presently stands at a mere 37%.
The news comes after opinion polls have revealed the AfD to be the most popular political force across the former East German states.
