In Germany, the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is establishing itself as the most popular party with voters according to two recent surveys.
Both published were today and dubbed a “shock” for the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz by tabloid Bild.
In the latest poll by INSA for Bild, AfD would hit 26 per cent of the vote, extending its lead over the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to 1.5 percentage points. The CDU would receive 24.5 per cent with coalition partner the Social Democratic Paarty (SPD) coming in a distant third with only 15 per cent.
BUNDESTAGSWAHL | Sonntagsfrage INSA/BILD
AfD: 26,0% (+0,5)
Union: 24,5% (-1,0)
SPD: 14,5%
LINKE: 11,5% (+0,5)
GRÜNE: 11,0% (-0,5)
BSW: 4,0%
FDP: 3,5% (+0,5)
Sonstige: 5,0%Änderungen zur letzten Umfrage vom 16. September 2025
Verlauf: https://t.co/f9MV7iZ8iJ#btw29 pic.twitter.com/psHDDzoZcA
— Deutschland Wählt (@Wahlen_DE) September 23, 2025
In another survey by pollster Forsa for news station RTL, the right-wingers would get 27 per cent of the vote if there was a general election on September 28. The CDU would only get 25 per cent. The SPD would drop to 13 per cent.
In both polls, The Greens and the far-left Die Linke party get around 11 per cent of the vote and no other group would make it past the 5 per cent hurdle necessary to enter the German Bundestag, or parliament
Both the INSA and the Forsa surveys are established polls for which more than 2,000 Germans each are questioned on their political preferences.
BUNDESTAGSWAHL | Sonntagsfrage Forsa/RTL, n-tv
AfD: 27% (+2)
Union: 25%
SPD: 13% (-1)
GRÜNE: 11% (-1)
LINKE: 11%
BSW: 4%
FDP: 3%
Sonstige: 6%Änderungen zur letzten Umfrage vom 16. September 2025
Verlauf: https://t.co/f9MV7iZG8h#btw29 pic.twitter.com/gBe9C6B2GI
— Deutschland Wählt (@Wahlen_DE) September 23, 2025
With the latest surveys, AfD has been leading the polls for more than two weeks – echoing a growing discontentment of the German electorate with the CDU-SPD coalition government of Merz.
His personal popularity is also in freefall. In the latest ranking of politicians INSA, he has lost another four places and is now the third-most unpopular out of the 20 politicians in the ranking. Meanwhile, Alice Weidel, the leader of AfD, has reached her best ranking yet, coming in at number 10 out of 20.
Commentator Boris Reitschuster accused Merz of “confusing the audience with the jury”, writing: “He plays the agreeable, the well-groomed, the ‘reasonable’ conservative with a red-green veneer, who doesn’t want to scare anyone away with truly conservative, middle-class positions.
“He seems like he’s been through a wind tunnel, as if he swallows his words every day. Playing this game wins you applause in the studio – but outside, you lose the people who really matter,” Reitschuster said.
“The country is tired of window-dressing symbolism. It wants plain talk on migration, energy prices and internal security.
“Instead, Merz delivers interviews, signals and little bows to those who will never vote for him and rarely treat him fairly. It’s a strategy that only works in the red-green editorial offices of the country – not with the real people that fill in the ballots,” he concluded.
