Germany’s rising populist right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has surpassed Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a mainstream conservative party, in popularity according to a new survey.
With 26% support, AFD leads the poll conducted by the Forsa Institute for Social Research and Statistical Analysis. Meanwhile, Merz’s CDU saw a decline to 24%, its lowest result since the 2021 election.
The poll also reveals that 67% of Germans express dissatisfaction with Merz’s performance over his first 100 days in office. He was elected in May.
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AfD holds the position of the leading opposition party in Germany’s Bundestag.
Despite this, the party, under the leadership of Alice Weidel, has been classified as “extremist” by Germany’s intelligence agency earlier this year.
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced the decision, referring to it as “tyranny in disguise.”
“Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy—it’s tyranny in disguise,” Rubio posted on X at the time. “What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD—which took second in the recent election—which opposes the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies.”
The party was founded in 2013 as an anti-euro movement but has since shifted to a hard-right stance on issues like immigration and Islam.
Across Europe, other far-right groups are also gaining traction. These include Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the National Rally party in France.
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