Germany’s Social Democrats overtake Merkel’s bloc in poll

woman walks past election posters featuring German Finance Minister, Vice-Chancellor, and the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) main candidate in upcoming parliamentary elections, Olaf Scholz (L), and veteran politician of the Left Party (Die Linke) Gregor Gysi (R) in Berlin on Aug 23, 2021.
(JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP)

BERLIN – Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) have pulled ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives for the first time in 15 years, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday, just a month before the country's federal election.

Merkel, in power since 2015, will step down after the Sept 26 election, with her conservative bloc already weakened by divisions over the direction of the party.

Some conservatives have blamed the drop in support on the bloc's candidate for chancellor, CDU chairman Armin Laschet, whose ratings have tumbled since he was caught on camera laughing during a visit last month to a town hit by floods

Support for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has been falling steadily in recent weeks.

READ MORE: Merkel's bloc drops to record low ahead of German election

The SPD was up 2 percentage points compared to a week ago on 23 percent, while the CDU/CSU slipped a point to 22 percent and the Greens are down a point at 18 percent, according to the Forsa poll for RTL/NTV conducted on Aug 17-23 among 1,532 people.

Forsa said this was the first time that the SPD had been ahead of the CDU/CSU since October 2006, with the latest rating for Merkel's party at its lowest level since the polling institute was set up in 1984.

Some conservatives have blamed the drop in support on the bloc's candidate for chancellor, CDU chairman Armin Laschet, whose ratings have tumbled since he was caught on camera laughing during a visit last month to a town hit by floods.

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Support for Laschet fell again in the Forsa poll, while it rose for the SPD's candidate, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.

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