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The new party leader of the CDU: Armin Laschet
Photo: Sepp Spiegl / imago images / sepp spiegl
It was supposed to happen in April 2020 - and because of the corona crisis, it wasn't ready until January 2021: the CDU has finally appointed a new chairman.
At the digital party conference on the weekend, Armin Laschet prevailed in a runoff election against Friedrich Merz.
The result was close: Laschet received 521 votes, Merz 466. However, Laschet's election did not spark any enthusiasm.
More than half of Germans say no to the question of whether he is a good choice as party leader.
This is the result of a representative survey by the opinion research institute Civey for SPIEGEL.
According to this, 32 percent are “definitely not” of the opinion that Laschet is a good choice.
Another 19 percent answer the question with "rather no".
Only about one in three respondents welcomed the personnel - 13 percent consider Laschet “definitely” and 21 percent at least “somewhat” a good choice.
Laschet's support for Laschet is also muted within its own ranks.
41 percent of the Union voters surveyed consider it a good choice, 45 percent do not.
With voters from the SPD and the Greens, supporters and opponents are represented almost equally.
Laschet has particularly few advocates among supporters of the AfD (10 percent) and the FDP (32 percent).
The latter is remarkable, since Laschet leads a government in North Rhine-Westphalia in which the Liberals are involved.
And he said his favorite coalition was one between the CDU and the FDP.
Overall, the assessments are not exactly reassuring for the new party chairman, who will soon have the next leadership question before him.
After all, in this super election year, with six state elections and the federal election, the Union will soon have to decide who will be its candidate for chancellor.
The fact that his name will be Laschet is far from clear, even if the CDU boss is traditionally considered a natural candidate for the candidacy for chancellor.
Laschet has already confirmed its claim to it.
But the head of the Bavarian sister party CSU has also taken position.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder acted as a doer during the pandemic and has so far convinced more people in the country than the new CDU boss: In surveys, Söder has been ahead of Laschet for a long time.
And Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn should not be completely out of the running yet.
Söder and Laschet have announced that they want to make a decision no later than mid-March after the state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.
There are now tough weeks ahead of Laschet.
But he still has time to convince the Union supporters in particular.
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