Overview
- An ARD Deutschlandtrend survey (Nov 3–5, n=1,300) puts the CDU/CSU at 27% and the AfD at 26%, with the SPD at 14%, Greens at 12% and The Left at 10%.
- The poll finds the AfD has nearly exhausted its current voter potential, with 26% support against a 28% potential, while the Union shows a far larger reserve at 52%.
- Public views on working with the AfD are split: 40% reject any cooperation, 30% favor case-by-case decisions and 25% support cooperation; among Union supporters, 46% back case-by-case cooperation.
- A leadership rupture over Russia has gone public: Alice Weidel questioned planned Sochi trips as pointless, Tino Chrupalla defended engagement and downplayed current danger from Moscow, and defense figures Rüdiger Lucassen and Hannes Gnauck warned of real Russian threats; Weidel said only Steffen Kotré would still travel after Rainer Rothfuß stood down.
- At the Junge Union’s Deutschlandtag in Europa-Park, the youth wing warned Chancellor Friedrich Merz over a pension bill they say adds roughly €115–120 billion by 2040, with members of the ‘Junge Gruppe’ threatening to withhold votes and party figures noting the government’s narrow 12-seat majority.