According to a recent poll by the Forsa Institute, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has taken the lead in the nationwide rankings, garnering 26% of the vote.
This puts them two percentage points ahead of the CDU/CSU bloc, which received support from 24% of respondents. The news comes as a blow to CDU leader Friedrich Merz, arriving just after he presented his new cabinet members. His party is now losing its leading position. Other major political forces are also seeing declines. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) dropped by one point, falling to just 14%.
Meanwhile, the Green Party has slightly strengthened its position, rising to 12%, and the Left Party has increased its support to 10%. Smaller parties such as the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 3% and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance with 4% remain below the 5% threshold required to enter parliament.
