Merkel juggernaut rumbling toward victory

Berlin — Chancellor Angela Merkel looked to be closing in on victory in this month’s German election after a poll Friday showed a robust majority for her conservatives and their favoured coalition partners.

The survey for public broadcaster ZDF showed that ahead of the September 27 vote, Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats and their partners of choice, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) were flying high with 52 percent support.

That would give them a clear ruling majority and allow Merkel to dump her current awkward coalition partners — the conservatives’ traditional rivals, the Social Democrats (SPD).

Merkel’s conservatives have looked unbeatable for much of the year. They are polling at 37 percent, despite losses in state elections at the weekend, with the FDP at 15 percent.

The opposition Greens tallied 11 percent and the far-left Die Linke 10 percent.

The SPD continues to trail far behind the Christian Democrats with just 23 percent. And only 26 percent would like to see SPD chancellor candidate, Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, lead Germany versus an overwhelming 62 percent for Merkel.

In Germany, voters cast ballots for the party, not their preferred candidate.

The poll was conducted by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen institute September 1-3 among 1,332 potential voters.

On Wednesday, two separate polls confirmed the trend.

The Forsa institute found the Christian Union bloc with 36 percent against just 22 percent for the Social Democrats.

And opinion research institute Allensbach showed Merkel’s conservatives with 35.5 percent and the SPD at 23 percent.

Seventy-four percent of respondents said they thought the CDU would win the elections against just four percent who believed in an SPD victory.

That was the lowest level for the Social Democrats since Allensbach first started asking the question in 1965.

AFP/Expatica