Conservatives decline in polls

(CLO) With only four days left until the German general election on February 23rd, a recent YouGov poll shows that support for the conservative CDU/CSU coalition, led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has dropped two percentage points to 27%.

This is the worst result for the coalition since August 2023. Meanwhile, the Left Party made significant progress, gaining three percentage points to reach 9%. This increase was mainly driven by younger voters, according to YouGov.

The four candidates in the live debate that just took place. Screenshot.

The far-right AfD party retained second place with 20%, down one percentage point from last week, while Prime Minister Olaf Scholz's center-left SPD party rose slightly to 17%. The Green Party remained at 12%, and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) stayed at 5%. The economically- focused Free Democratic Party (FDP) also remained unchanged, with support at 4%.

These survey results come at a crucial time, as political parties are pouring all their efforts into the final sprint before election day. Approximately 59.2 million Germans are eligible to vote this coming Sunday, and the race for leadership of Germany remains extremely fierce.

Against this backdrop, Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a speech on the fifth anniversary of the Hanau shooting, emphasizing that Germany must continue to fight against racism. He expressed concern that many immigrants still feel unsafe and stressed that the country cannot allow hatred to take root.

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

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

In addition, the Left Party is attracting increasing attention from young people. The party's co-leader, Jan van Aken, stated that membership has increased by 18,000 since the campaign began. He said that young voters are particularly supportive of the party's message of "taking money from the rich to help the poor." To reach this voter group, the Left Party is also stepping up its campaign on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

In a live televised debate on Monday evening, the four chancellor candidates answered questions from the public. CDU candidate Friedrich Merz pledged to tighten welfare policies, cut taxes, and expedite the deportation of undocumented immigrants. Chancellor Olaf Scholz focused on pension funds, healthcare , and foreign labor. He also accused US Vice President JD Vance of interfering in the German elections.

Alice Weidel, the AfD candidate, stated that immigration is the cause of rising crime rates and affirmed that her party opposes illegal immigration but still supports integration.

Green Party candidate Robert Habeck acknowledged that one of the current government's biggest mistakes was not investing enough in long-term infrastructure. He stressed that the war in Ukraine had driven up energy prices and that the Green Party was working to promote initiatives to reduce bureaucracy.

Currently, the candidates are intensifying their election campaigns 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 northeastern 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