The CDU and CSU experienced a steep rise last year because of their corona crisis management.
But the wind has turned.
A comment by Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.
Crisis of the century, as cynical as it sounds, are also opportunities of the century in politics: The rebirth of the CDU and CSU as vital popular parties in the first Corona spring reflected the growing trust of citizens in the Union and its crisis managers Merkel, Spahn and Söder.
This perception has changed drastically with the vaccination.
The Union has long since said goodbye to its June poll, which reached 40 percent.
New surveys see CDU and CSU at just 33 percent.
The trend continues to fall.
The attempts by the Chancellery to assign Spahn the scapegoat role are noticeable.
The over-ambitious minister made things easy for his opponents through clumsiness.
But it is also clear: The big decisions that led to the recent downswing of the Union parties - above all the vaccination failure and sticking to a tough lockdown with no prospect of opening up - were not made in the Ministry of Health.
The feeling for people's emotional state has been lost elsewhere, in the Chancellery and also in Munich, and it is questionable whether the relaxations agreed yesterday and the new rapid test strategy will be enough to regain lost trust.
The CSU is also shaken by the suspicion that some of its people have enriched themselves from the crisis.
CDU boss Armin Laschet is anything but a strong figure.
Elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate are in just over a week, and things are not looking good for the Union.
In addition to Mainz, a traffic light alliance made up of the Greens, the SPD and the FDP could soon rule in Stuttgart - the FDP that some in the CSU, which has become overconfident, recently liked to revile.
In the midst of the virus crisis, the end of the Merkel era is casting dark shadows.