Only 3rd place

Poll after knife attack: AfD continues to plummet

The German AfD is at a low point in the polls

(Bild: AFP)

It is the first poll after the deadly attack in Mannheim last Friday. And in this one, the right-wing populist AfD is once again losing voter favor among Germans.

In a survey published on Tuesday by the INSA institute for the newspaper "Bild", 15.5 percent (-0.5) of respondents said they would vote for the AfD if federal elections were held on Sunday.

AfD plummets to 3rd place
The party thus falls behind the SPD in third place, which is at 16%, as in the previous survey. This is the AfD's worst result since March 2023.

(Bild: AFP)

At a polling low: the AfD with its party leader Alice Weidel (45)

(Bild: AFP)

Union clearly in first place
The Union (CDU and CSU) remains the strongest force with 30.5 percent. The Greens and FDP, the parties currently in government with the SPD, are at 12% and 5% respectively. The Left Party comes in at 3.5 percent, while 7.5 percent of respondents would vote for the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance. The institute surveyed citizens between May 31 and June 3, 2002.

Caution is advised with polls
Election polls are generally always fraught with uncertainty. Among other things, declining party loyalty and increasingly short-term election decisions make it difficult for opinion research institutes to weight the data collected. In principle, polls only reflect opinion at the time of the survey and are not a forecast of the election outcome.

The AfD leadership resumed campaigning immediately after the Mannheim attack. Party leader Alice Weidel shared a fake quote from Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) in which she blamed right-wing extremism - a fake. When Weidel was caught, she admitted the mistake but explained: "The tenor is still correct ..."

Police officer killed in knife attack
Six people and the perpetrator himself were injured in the knife attack by a 25-year-old man of Afghan origin on participants at a rally organized by the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa in Mannheim on Friday. A police officer succumbed to his fatal injuries shortly afterwards. The perpetrator was not yet fit for questioning, officers had previously searched his apartment and seized items to determine the motive and planning of the crime.