Support for Merz and the government hits an all-time low: only 10% of Germans are satisfied

Regional elections held in September in three German states dealt a severe blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU.

In Saxony-Anhalt, the CDU halved its share of the vote and lost control of the state, while a similar result was recorded in the city-state of Berlin. In several states, the party’s decline was historic: the CDU failed even to clear the electoral threshold, an unprecedented development in the history of post-war Germany.

After a prolonged period of weak support, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has suffered another decline in the polls. The coalition government, made up of the CDU, CSU and SPD, also enjoys low levels of trust. Only one in 10 Germans says they are satisfied with the work of the government and the chancellor, marking historically low levels in both cases. Even among the CDU electorate, only 40 percent remain satisfied with Friedrich Merz.

The data come from the latest poll conducted by German polling institutions, which surveyed 1,303 voters between September 28 and 30. According to the results, the Alternative for Germany, AfD, which contains elements of right-wing extremism, ranks as the leading political force, while the CDU has fallen to 20 percent.

If Bundestag elections were held now, the CDU/CSU Union would receive only 20 percent of the vote, one of the weakest results in its history. At the same time, the AfD leads with 27 percent support.