As of: February 22, 2024, 5:24 a.m
By: Jens Kiffmeier
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The protests are having an effect: the AfD has fallen in the polls to its lowest level since June 2023. Even Aiwanger's Free Voters are turning away.
Berlin - The headwind is getting stronger: After a large wave of protests in the country, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is now increasingly feeling the rejection in the polls.
The right-wing populists continue to lose ground, while the Union and Sahra Wagenknecht's new party continue to gain ground.
This emerges from the new survey by the Insa opinion research institute.
The survey crash continues to be accompanied by many ongoing anti-AfD demonstrations.
New survey published: AfD is losing ground – the Union remains the strongest force
According to the Insa Sunday trend, the AfD achieved 19 percent this week.
This means that it remains the second strongest force, but the right-wing populists have lost one percentage point compared to the previous week, as Die
Welt
reported.
Compared to the previous month, the losses are even greater at minus four percentage points.
Overall, it is the lowest value since June 2023.
Currently having to cope with poor survey results: AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel.
© Marco Rauch/dpa
The Union around Friedrich Merz (CDU) and Markus Söder (CSU) remains undisputed in first place.
The two sister parties gained one percentage point and now reach 31 percent in the national trend.
The SPD loses and gets 14 percent, closely followed by the Greens (13 percent).
The Alliance for Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which has improved by one percentage point and is now at eight percent, can benefit.
The FDP (four percent) and the Left (three percent) can no longer improve.
As things stand, both parties would no longer be represented in the Bundestag - as would the Free Voters, who also only have three percent.
Protests against the right have an impact on AfD poll numbers
It is currently unclear whether the fall in the polls for the AfD is a permanent trend reversal or just a short-term glitch in the polls.
After the revelations about secret meetings between AfD officials and right-wing radical networks in Potsdam, there are still ongoing protests against the party.
The really big wave has subsided, but over the weekend thousands of people took to the streets again in various places in the southwest of the Republic.
And 30,000 demonstrators also gathered in Münster on Friday evening to protest against an AfD New Year's reception in the city.
AfD is becoming a dirty child: Aiwanger and the Free Voters are distancing themselves
It is probably because of this basic mood that other parties are also trying to distance themselves from the right-wing populists.
For example, the Free Voters decided to ban cooperation with the AfD.
At their federal party conference in Bitburg on Saturday, 92 percent of the almost 445 participants approved a corresponding application, as the
AFP
news agency reported.
The motion stands for “a strict demarcation against the extreme political fringes,” explained the federal chairman of the Free Voters, Hubert Aiwanger.
The decision confirms “practice that has been in place for years”.
For example, the Free Voters do not accept former members of the AfD.
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Aiwanger had campaigned for the delimitation decision at the party conference.
He warned of the danger that “somewhere someone gone wild” would “go into a coalition with the AfD” in the name of his party.
Because then the free voters as a whole would be placed “in the right corner”.
The party explained that the decision now prohibits collaboration or collaboration with the AfD.
This applies “particularly with regard to joint coalitions, the formation of factions and the mutual support of candidates as well as joint lists”.
Only the regional association in Saxony rejected the decision.
(
jkf
)