The far-right Alternative for Germany has more support in eastern Germany than Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, according to a poll Sunday, spelling trouble for centrist parties in upcoming regional elections.
The poll conducted by Emnid for Bild am Sonntag showed the AfD on top among respondents in the east with 23 percent support, followed closely by Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) with 22 percent. The far-left Die Linke came in third place with 14 percent, while the Social Democrats (SPD) came in fifth at 11 percent.
The results come less than a month ahead of regional elections on September 1 in the eastern states of Saxony and Brandenburg, where the CDU and SPD have long dominated. Both parties have been losing support in recent years in national and regional elections, and defeats in the upcoming votes could force a rethink of their coalition government at the national level.
At the national level, however, the conservatives are still on top with 26 percent support, according to the poll. The Greens are in second place at 23 percent, followed by the AfD in third place with 14 percent support, and the SPD at 13 percent.
The AfD, founded in 2013, first entered the country’s national parliament two years ago, riding to success on a wave of anti-immigrant sentiments after the height of the refugee crisis in 2015.
