In the former industrial hall in Cologne-Mülheim, the CDU geared everything towards Hendrik Wüst.

At the entrance, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia smiles from a large poster, and the election program, which the extended CDU state executive unanimously approved a few moments ago, is entitled: "Do what matters".

Pure burger

Political correspondent in North Rhine-Westphalia.

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Wüst came up with the slogan some time ago.

And when he presented the most important points of the CDU election program in a speech on Saturday, he repeated it to the cheers of his 300 or so party friends after each block of topics: whether it was education policy, internal security, energy transition and security of supply or the admission of refugees from Ukraine.

“Do what matters” – that should function as a mixture of battle cry and self-assurance.

Because on the one hand, Wüst presents under the slogan what he considers a successful five-year balance sheet of the black and yellow state government.

On the other hand, the slogan should signal that Wüst is the fresh force with its own future plan.

After all, it was only five months ago that Wüst succeeded the hapless Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet both at the head of the state CDU and in the office of Prime Minister.

Lead candidates must mobilize party supporters

The fact that the CDU is largely relying on the 46-year-old libertine for the North Rhine-Westphalian state elections on May 15 remains a risk.

So far, polls have suggested that the new prime minister has not yet been able to earn a significant official bonus in such a short time.

In mid-March, a Forsa survey showed that Wüst clearly outperformed his SPD challenger Thomas Kutschaty in the prime ministerial preference with 37 to 21 percent, but 42 percent of those surveyed were still undecided.

According to Forsa, the CDU was five points ahead of the Social Democrats in party preference with 32 percent.

But because several previous polls saw the CDU and SPD more or less equal, party strategists here and there are convinced that the race is still open.

It is even harder to estimate which alliance of two or three will be formed in the largest federal state after May 15.

It should be decisive which top candidate is better able to mobilize his party supporters.

In surveys, the impression grew that Wüst has an advantage – so the CDU's Wüst calculation could work out.

While he received 90 percent approval from CDU sympathizers at Forsa, Kuchaty only managed 52 percent of the SPD voters.

For the CDU and SPD, no state election in 2022 is as important as the election in the most populous federal state.

The Social Democrats hope to also form a traffic light coalition in Düsseldorf and thus be able to stabilize nationwide.

The CDU, which fell to historical depths in the federal elections, needs success in North Rhine-Westphalia to regain its footing.

If your by far largest state association failed in mid-May, that would also put your new federal chairman Friedrich Merz in trouble.

There have been frequent changes of government in North Rhine-Westphalia since 2005.

After only five years in office, the black and yellow government of Prime Minister Jürgen Rüttgers (CDU) was voted out in 2010.

Hannelore Kraft (SPD), who initially formed a minority government, got a clear red-green majority in the first general election in May 2012.

But only five years later, the dissatisfaction of the citizens with the government's work was so great that the SPD achieved its worst election result in the history of the state and the Greens plummeted to 6.4 percent.

Wüst relies on citizens not tending to replace their top political personnel in times of crisis.

In "Do what matters," the tried-and-tested CDU slogan "No experiments" also sounds a little.

Wüst calls out to his party friends in Cologne on Saturday: “Flood, pandemic, war – this is the time we are in.” It is taken very seriously that many people in the country have more worries and fears than they have in a long time.

"Doing what is important - this is why the CDU, as a strong force in the political center, is more important than ever before."