Overview
- The Insa poll of 1,003 voters conducted on October 8–9 and published Sunday found 53 percent of Germans back so‑called Brandmauern, which are self‑imposed rules that bar cooperation with certain parties.
- The poll breaks down support: 25 percent favor a Brandmauer only to the AfD, 16 percent to both AfD and Die Linke, 12 percent only to the Left, and 32 percent oppose Brandmauern to either party.
- Senior CDU figures are sharply divided over the policy with Chancellor Friedrich Merz defending the 2018 Unvereinbarkeitsbeschluss that forbids cooperation, while CSU politician Manfred Weber has urged loosening the rule.
- Recent regional defeats in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern, Sachsen‑Anhalt and setbacks in Berlin have driven the debate and left the CDU under 20 percent in some national polls, prompting the extraordinary presidium retreat.
- The Brandmauer debate is tied to security and reputational concerns because the AfD is under Verfassungsschutz observation as a 'Verdachtsfall' and some state branches are classed as extremist, so any change could reshape state coalitions and the CDU’s public standing.