A historic record for the AfD. Germany is turning right, Chancellor Merz's coalition is losing its majority

Support for the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has increased to a record level of 28 percent, according to a poll by the Insa institute for the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Support for AfD, currently the largest opposition party, was one percentage point higher than a week ago. 24% of people declared their readiness to vote for the Christian Democrat parties leading the government, CDU/CSU. respondents, while their coalition partner, SPD, was supported by 14 percent. survey participants.

Support for the Green party dropped by one percentage point to 12%. 11% want to vote for the Left. respondents. The far-left BSW and the liberal FDP are below the 5% electoral threshold. The survey was conducted on April 20-24 among a representative group of 1,203 voters.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU and SPD coalition, which has been in power since May 2025, would not currently have the required majority and would have to expand the coalition to include the Greens or the Left.

All other parties represented in the Bundestag exclude a coalition with the AfD. The party led by Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla supports the withdrawal of US troops from Germany and the removal of American nuclear weapons from German territory.

AfD wants to reactivate the Nord Stream gas pipeline, it is an anti-immigration, pro-Russian and critical grouping of the European Union. The highest poll support for the AfD so far was 27%. In the Bundestag elections in February 2025, the CDU/CSU won 28.5 percent and the AfD 20.8 percent.

“Sueddeutsche Zeitung”: populists can be defeated, but the way to do it is not to isolate the AfD

Hungary and the Netherlands have shown that it is possible to take away voters from right-wing populists, in Germany the way to defeat them electorally is to end the political isolation of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) – writes the daily “Sueddeutsche Zeitung” in a commentary.

Pointing to the poor result of Geert Wilders' PVV party in the Netherlands in October 2025 and the April election victory in Hungary of the opposition Tisza, “SZ” claims that “right-wing populism is not invincible.”

“Despite this, the AfD in Germany continues to gain strength,” notes the Munich daily.

The AfD is leading in most nationwide polls in Germany and has a chance of taking power in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in September. “This shows that the current strategy to fight right-wing populism in Germany has been ineffective, or perhaps even counter-effective,” says “SZ”.

Therefore, “a change in strategy is needed.” According to the daily, it should be based on the conclusion that “in the Netherlands and Hungary, the candidates who succeeded were those who put specific problems and people's concerns at the center of their campaigns.” Therefore, in the election campaign we should talk about “corruption, bread prices, low wages and declining hospitals.”

“SZ” calls for an end to the debate on the banning of the AfD, which “allows the party to portray itself as a martyr.” He also argues against isolating the party, pointing out that in practice this isolation is blurred anyway. Moreover, an electoral victory over the AfD requires – according to “SZ” – “stronger confrontation (of this party) at the substantive level.”

The right-wing populist AfD is isolated by the main parties in Germany at the federal and federal state levels, which is supported by the Christian Democrat Chancellor Friedrich Merz. However, at a lower level, especially in the east of the country, this “firewall” is being observed less and less rigorously. (PAP)

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