Sonntagsfrage sees the AfD as the second strongest force – on a par with the SPD

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AfD leader Tino Chrupalla: Allegedly "not a mere protest party"

Photo: IMAGO/Bernd Elmenthaler

Heating dispute, inflation, influx of refugees: The AfD apparently benefits from the dispute over controversial issues. Now, a recent poll sees the right-wing radicals as the second strongest force in Germany, on a par with the SPD. In the new ARD "Germany Trend", the AfD gains two percentage points and would be elected by 18 percent if the Bundestag elections were held on Sunday. In the Infratest Dimap survey, the SPD lost one percentage point to 18 percent – compared to the survey at the beginning of May.

The CDU/CSU is clearly the strongest force with 29 percent (-1). The Greens lose one point and come to 15 percent, the weakest value since September 2021. The FDP remains at 7 percent. With 4 percent (-1), the Left Party misses the five percent hurdle. According to ARD, this is the best value for the AfD in the Sunday question in the "Deutschlandtrend". Only in September 2018 had the party reached this value once.

For AfD leader Tino Chrupalla, the high values illustrate a clear demarcation from the Greens. "Citizens see where the values-driven policies of the Greens are leading. Namely, to economic warfare, inflation and deindustrialization," he told the Funke newspapers. At the same time, Chrupalla emphasized that the AfD is "not a mere protest party" – rather, he sees a trend that "more and more citizens are voting for us out of conviction."

Crosses in protest

In the "Germany trend", however, the respondents see it differently: 67 percent of the AfD supporters said they wanted to vote for the party out of disappointment with the other parties. Only 32 percent justified their support with conviction.

Similar to Chrupalla, CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja attributes the right's high in the polls to uncertainty caused by the policies of the traffic light coalition. "But of course we also have to ask ourselves self-critically why these disappointed people turn to the extreme fringes," said Czaja.

CDU sees blame for the traffic light

"We are observing the increase in approval of the AfD in the current opinion polls with great concern," said Czaja. There has always been a right-wing extremist voter potential throughout the country. "We can't reach this hard core and that's not our goal. But among those who favor the AfD at the moment, there are also many people who are simply disappointed, who are increasingly losing confidence in democracy and its institutions." This is "mainly due to the great uncertainty caused by the traffic light through its leaderless chaos policy, be it in heating, health care or immigration."

In March 2021, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case – an assessment that was confirmed in the first instance by the Cologne Administrative Court about a year later. The party is defending itself against this legally. The proceedings at the Higher Administrative Court in Münster are still ongoing.

mrc/dpa