While Merz’s move might not have any immediate impact on the polls - since the CDU is currently leading - it will soon create a much bigger problem: no party across the democratic spectrum will be willing to form a coalition with him.
He may win over some radicals and see a temporary boost (or no negative impact) in the polls, which will likely lead him to believe he’s on the right track. But in the long run, he’s undermining his own trustworthiness.
Imagine being in a coalition with him, and then he starts pushing radical policies that have no support from his partners or the democratic parties. He’ll likely work with the far righters of AfD.
That’s a person you simply can’t trust or work with. The CDU may still win the election, but Merz has effectively destroyed his chances of becoming Chancellor.
His only remaining path to power would be through a power-hungry, partisan approach that prioritizes politics over the country’s well-being and democracy - ultimately paving the way for working with the AfD, which would be disastrous for Germany’s democratic foundations.
At this point, he became Germany’s version of Trump.
This was such a dumb move from Merz. He would have easily been voted in as chancellor, if he had done nothing. Instead, he initiates these racist policies, collabs with Nazis to try to make them happen and then even blames the other parties for ‘forcing’ him to work with the Nazis, because they wouldn’t agree on his racist policies.
Now there’s massive protests throughout the country and while it’s still too soon to tell, I also imagine that his party’s ratings will plummet.
If the Dutch election was any indication, it will long-term benefit the AfD and hurt the CDU.
When the VVD, frontrunner at the time, suggested they could work with the PVV, a lot of right-wing voters shifted from the VVD to the PVV. Suddenly the PVV became the largest party, doubling their seats, whilst the VVD lost a third.
have easily been voted in as chancellor, if he had done nothing
So doing Scholz’s Thing? It worked the last time.🥸
I don’t think they will plummet. While he’s doing obvious nazi shit, the actual nazi party is assumed to be right behind him in terms of projected votes.
These protests are great, but they are by no means big enough, I fear.
It’s wonderful to see all the protest but I do hope the people come out to vote when it is time cause that is what will really matter
I’d guess that over 95% of those at the protests will also vote. The issue is that even if there are 1 million protesters, there 82 million non-protesters in Germany.
Who do you think the CDU voters are likely to move to? The SPD is just as unpopular right?
I do think the non-radical voters switching away from the CDU will largely move to the SPD.
The SPD is disappointing, especially under Scholz (who’s our current chancellor and their candidate for the election), because they don’t do anything. We have a massive gap between rich and poor, which is a big reason why the Nazis are seeing support in the first place. This should be a core topic of the SPD, given they’re literally the socialist party. Instead, they have done a whole lot of nothing, for as long as I can remember.
But CDU voters are used to Merkel, who had perfected doing nothing. That Scholz has proven to also be doing nothing is probably their wet dream.
given they’re literally the socialist party.
Oh You sweet summer child. The SPD hasn’t been socialist, nor social democrat since Schröder reinvented it as a “centrist” party modeled after Tony Blair’s “new Labour” back in the early 2000s.
Doesn’t make it any less disappointing that they still call themselves “socialist party”.
Tbh I feel like German politics has long been a copy of British politics and vice versa. Whatever happens in Germany will probably happen in Britain at the next election too
The AFD, like he planned
The first opinion polls after the vote indicate the needle didn’t move at all.
Edit: adding a link to a list of opinion polls
There are two polls which have polling after the vote on Wednesday. That are the two INSA polls, which both have been commisioned by BILD…
