Only fourth place

Poll quake: Scholz drags SPD into the abyss

Olaf Scholz has outstandingly poor popularity ratings.

(Bild: AFP/RALF HIRSCHBERGER)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is dragging the SPD further and further into the abyss. This is shown by a new ZDF "Politbarometer" survey. The German Social Democrats are now only in fourth place, while other parties are on the upswing.

The German Social Democrats slipped to 14 percentage points in the poll published on Friday by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, falling behind the Greens, who improved to 15 percentage points. The far-right party AfD was able to gain two points ahead of its party conference in Riesa, Saxony, reaching its highest "Politbarometer" score in a year with 21 percentage points.

The CDU/CSU remains clearly the strongest force, but has lost one point and now stands at 30%. This means that government alliances between the CDU/CSU and the Greens or the CDU/CSU and SPD would be mathematically possible. Cooperation with the AfD has been ruled out by all parties.

Liberals threatened with expulsion from parliament
With four percent each, the liberal FDP, the Left Party and the left-wing populist BSW would not get over the five percent hurdle. All other parties together managed eight percent.

In the chancellor question, the Greens' candidate for chancellor Robert Habeck improved by two points to 27%. He is now on a par with CDU candidate Friedrich Merz (minus two). AfD leader Alice Weidel has 15 percent (minus one). Incumbent Olaf Scholz (SPD) loses two points and lands in last place of all four candidates for chancellor with 14%.

Scholz is currently the face of multiple crises. According to forecasts, Germany has suffered its second consecutive year of recession, the number of unemployed is rising and industry is making massive job cuts. The prestigious automotive industry is doing particularly badly.

Pistorius remains the "most important" politician
However, there are also rays of hope among the Social Democrats. In the ranking of the ten most important politicians, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) remains clearly in first place with 1.7 points despite a drop of 0.3 points. In the internal candidate duel, however, Pistorius has given way to Scholz. 

For the ZDF "Politbarometer", Forschungsgruppe Wahlen surveyed a total of 1433 eligible voters online and by telephone between January 7 and January 9. The statistical fluctuation margin is given as plus/minus two to three percentage points.