The populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has begun to surge while establishment parties continue to slide as Germans prepare to head to the polls for a federal election in February.
A survey from YouGov found that the anti-mass migration AfD party has risen by two points over the previous poll to 21 per cent support, putting the party firmly in second place ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), which fell by two points to just 16 per cent, Welt reports.
The neo-liberal Christian Democratic Union (CDU), formerly led by ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, dropped by a point over the previous survey but remains ahead at 29 per cent. Meanwhile, the former ‘traffic light’ coalition partner Greens stand at 14 per cent, followed by leftist populist Sahra Wagenknecht’s eponymous BSW party at 6 per cent, the Free Democrats at 5 per cent, and the Left party at 3 per cent.
The federal election, which will be held on February 23 in Germany, was sparked after the collapse of Scholz’s leftist government in November over disagreements on the national budget and concern that a weak and divided government in Berlin would not be able to grapple with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.
AfD’s surge in the polls comes after yet another terror attack in the country, with a ‘refugee’ from Saudi Arabia being accused of using a rental car to kill six people and injure nearly 300 at a Christmas market in Magdeburg last month.
The Alternative for Germany has also been bolstered by support from Tesla owner Elon Musk, who declared last month on his X social media platform that “only the AfD can save Germany.”
Musk is also set to conduct a live interview on X next week with AfD chancellor candidate and party co-leader Alice Weidel, sparking accusations from globalists in Europe that the American tech billionaire is “interfering” in European politics.
The X boss has rejected the notion that expressing an opinion or speaking to a politician represents interference and has claimed that the response has been hypocritical given the long-term involvement of other billionaires, such as George Soros and Bill Gates, in European affairs.
YouGov’s survey found that while nearly six in ten (59 per cent) of German voters believe that Musk’s endorsement would help the AfD, a majority still felt it would not play a significant role in the upcoming election.
Surging support for the anti-mass migration party comes amid continued debate over whether the government should ban the AfD outright, which some unironically claim would be necessary to preserve German democracy.
However, the campaign to ban the party suffered a major blow this week, with influential Berlin Senator Felor Badenberg opposing the move. Given her previous role as the Vice President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), the body that would make the final determination of a ban, Badenberg’s opinion will likely carry weight.
When asked this week if she would support banning the party, she said, “A clear no,” adding, “Anyone who looks at the AfD’s program will not find enough to support a ban procedure.”