Conservatives fall in polls

(CLO) There are only four days left until the general election in Germany on February 23. A latest poll from YouGov shows that the support rate for the conservative CDU/CSU alliance of Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz has dropped two percentage points, to 27%.

This is the coalition's worst result since August 2023. Meanwhile, the Left Party made a significant step forward, increasing by three percentage points to 9%. This increase was mainly due to the group of young voters, according to YouGov.

Four candidates in the recent live debate. Screenshot.

The far-right AfD remained in second place with 20%, down one percentage point from last week, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats edged up slightly to 17%. The Greens remained at 12%, while the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) remained at 5%. The economic -minded Free Democrats (FDP) also remained unchanged at 4%.

The survey results come at a crucial time, as political parties gear up for the final sprint before election day. Some 59.2 million Germans are eligible to vote on Sunday, and the race for Germany's leadership is still very much on.

In that context, Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a speech on the fifth anniversary of the shooting in Hanau, stressing that Germany must continue to fight racism. He expressed concern that many immigrants still feel insecure and stressed that the country cannot afford to allow hatred to gain a foothold.

The 2020 shooting shocked Germany, when an extremist murdered nine people of immigrant origin, including a Romanian citizen.

In a related development on the election campaign, a humorous incident occurred when the Berlin branch of the far-right AfD party made a spelling mistake on its election poster, misspelled "Deutschland" as "Deutschand". After being ridiculed on social media, an AfD candidate tried to explain that it was a "picture puzzle", but the post on the X platform was deleted shortly after.

The Left Party is also attracting growing interest from young people. Its co-leader, Jan van Aken, claims that its membership has increased by 18,000 since the campaign began. He says young voters are particularly receptive to the party’s message of “taking money from the rich to help the poor.” To reach this group of voters, the Left Party is also stepping up its campaign on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

In a televised debate on Monday night, the four candidates for chancellor answered questions from the public. CDU's Friedrich Merz pledged to tighten welfare, cut taxes and speed up the deportation of illegal immigrants. Chancellor Olaf Scholz highlighted pensions, health care and foreign workers. He also accused US Vice President JD Vance of meddling in the German election.

Alice Weidel, AfD candidate, claims immigrants are the cause of rising crime rates and insists her party opposes illegal immigration but still supports integration.

Green Party candidate Robert Habeck admitted that one of the current government's biggest mistakes was not investing enough in long-term infrastructure. He noted that the war in Ukraine had caused high energy prices and that the Green Party was pushing for initiatives to reduce bureaucracy.

Candidates are currently campaigning across Germany. Friedrich Merz is expected to be in Halle and Potsdam, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz will continue his campaign in Oldenburg and Emden, two cities in the northeast of Germany.

Cao Phong (according to DW, CNN, BBC)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/bau-cu-duc-con-4-ngay-phe-bao-thu-sut-giam-trong-cuoc-tham-do-post335125.html