(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany has seen a decrease in public support, according to a poll by Infratest-Dimap. 23 per cent of respondents would vote for the junior partner in the current governing coalition in this year’s election to the Federal Diet, down five points since mid-May.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany has seen a decrease in public support, according to a poll by Infratest-Dimap. 23 per cent of respondents would vote for the junior partner in the current governing coalition in this year’s election to the Federal Diet, down five points since mid-May.
The Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) remain ahead with 35 per cent. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is third with 15 per cent, followed by the Green Party (Grune) with 13 per cent, and the Left Party (Linke) with 10 per cent.
The next legislative ballot is scheduled for Sept. 27. The CDU-CSU alliance has said it would likely invite the pro-business FDP to form a new federal government. Together, the CDU, CSU and FDP garner the support of 50 per cent of respondents.
Official results from the September 2005 election to the Federal Diet gave the CDU and the CSU 226 seats, with the SPD a close second with 222 legislators. Neither of the two main parties was able to assemble a coalition government with their preferred partners. In November 2005, CDU leader Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany’s first female head of government. The current administration includes members of the CDU, CSU and SPD.
In September 2008, SPD leader Kurt Beck tendered his resignation. The party chose transport, building and urban affairs minister Franz Muentefering to replace Beck, and picked Frank-Walter Steinmeier to run against Merkel in the next federal election. Steinmeier has been Germany’s foreign minister since November 2005, and also serves as Germany’s vice-chancellor.
Since late 2007, defaults on so-called subprime mortgages—credit given to high-risk borrowers—in the United States have caused volatility in domestic and global financial markets and pushed the U.S. economy into a recession. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. The crisis has affected the global financial and credit systems.
Germany has been hit hard by turmoil in international financial markets, and went into recession in the third quarter of 2008. In October, Merkel introduced an expensive rescue package aimed at stabilizing the financial system. The measure called for banks and financial institutions to borrow money from the government’s rescue fund. The German economy is supposed to shrink by six per cent this year.
On Jul. 7, the German government urged lending institutions to give more credit to borrowers or else they could face sanctions for not using bail-out funds properly. Finance Ministry spokesman Stefan Olbermann declared: "We have to ask ourselves where the money is. Our suspicion is that it is not ending up in the supply of credit."
Polling Data
What party would you vote for in the next federal election?
|
|
Jul. 2
|
May 14
|
Apr. 7
|
|
Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) /
|
35%
|
35%
|
34%
|
|
Social Democratic Party (SPD)
|
23%
|
28%
|
27%
|
|
Free Democratic Party (FDP)
|
15%
|
13%
|
14%
|
|
Green Party (Grune)
|
13%
|
12%
|
11%
|
|
Left Party (Linke)
|
10%
|
9%
|
10%
|
Source: Infratest-Dimap
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,500 German adults, conducted from Jun. 30 to Jul. 2, 2009. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.
