A recent poll has revealed the new CDU leader, Armin Laschet, has little support amongst the German public to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor.

Germany’s next chancellor

A poll published over the weekend has indicated who the German public favour in the elections for chancellor later this year. Despite being elected as the new leader of Germany’s CDU party, only 12,1 percent of people think Armin Laschet should be the conservative candidate for chancellor.

According to the poll, 43 percent of Germans would prefer Markus Söder, the state premier of Bavaria and leader of the CSU party, to run for chancellor. The poll has Health Minister Jens Spahn, who ran as Laschet’s deputy in the CDU leadership election, in third place with 8,7 percent of the vote.

Söder emerged as a public favourite to succeed Merkel as chancellor due to his robust and effective management of the coronavirus crisis in Bavaria. In fact, a recent survey, undertaken ahead of the CDU’s leadership vote, gave Söder a chancellor suitability rating of 54 percent. He was followed by the SPD leader Olaf Scholz, who is currently finance minister and Vice-Chancellor, with 45 percent. In contrast, CDU leadership nominees Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen were given chancellor suitability ratings of 29 percent, with Laschet only scoring 28 percent.

Conservatives top the polls

As it currently stands, the CDU / CSU union is topping the polls with support averaging around 35 to 37 percent. The Greens are currently polling between 18 and 20 percent and will decide after Easter who will lead them into the election. The SPD are polling at around 14 to 16 percent.

According to the polls, the far-right AfD party are currently polling at around 8 to 10 percent. They are followed by the Left at around 8 percent, with the FDP party trailing behind with only around 7,5 to 5 percent.