OMM Redaksiyası
Most Germans believe Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s reform drive is heading in the wrong direction, while the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a clear lead in voting intentions, a survey published on Thursday by public broadcaster ZDF found.
Some 59% of respondents said the coalition’s planned and partly adopted changes to pensions, health care and long-term care were going “in the wrong direction”; 30% said they were on the right track. Supporters of Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance were the only party group with a majority in favor of the measures, at 66%.
About 80% said the costs were being distributed unfairly, compared with 12% who considered the distribution fair. On social-insurance changes, 77% said they did not believe the government would make a significant contribution to solving the problems.
Merz receives lowest rating in survey series
Respondents rated politicians on a scale from +5, very positive, to −5, very negative. Merz scored −2.0, down from −1.9 in September, marking his lowest rating in the series.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius of the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) remained narrowly at the top, with 1.3, compared with 1.4 previously. Manuela Schwesig, the SPD premier of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, scored 1.1, while Hendrik Wuest, the CDU premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, received 0.8.
AfD leads voting intentions as voters split on a ban
If a general election were held this week, the right-wing AfD would receive 28%, ahead of the CDU/CSU alliance on 21%, according to the poll. The SPD would get 13%, the Greens 15% after gaining one point, the Left Party 12% and the liberal FDP 3%. The figures suggest that the CDU/CSU and SPD would fall short of a parliamentary majority in a snap election.
While 68% of respondents said the AfD posed a danger to German democracy, 29% disagreed. The share who disagreed was 42% in the former eastern states and 26% in the west.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency classified the AfD in 2025 as a confirmed right-wing extremist endeavour, citing anti-democratic positions and links to right-wing extremist groups. The party rejects the classification and is challenging it in court.
Asked whether the AfD should be banned over its alleged anti-democratic goals, 43% supported a ban and 51% opposed one. Opposition was higher among CDU/CSU supporters, at 54%, and FDP supporters, at 55%.
On cooperation with the AfD, 45% said other parties should refuse to work with it in principle. That view was held by 70% of SPD supporters, 76% of Greens supporters and 79% of Left Party supporters. Another 53% said parties should decide on cooperation case by case, including 54% of CDU/CSU supporters and 86% of FDP supporters.
