(01/14/10) -

Year Bodes Well for CDU/CSU in Germany

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Germany’s governing conservatives start the year with stable voter support, according to a poll by Infratest-Dimap. 36 per cent of respondents would support the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) in the next election to the Federal Diet, up one point since mid-December.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Germany’s governing conservatives start the year with stable voter support, according to a poll by Infratest-Dimap. 36 per cent of respondents would support the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) in the next election to the Federal Diet, up one point since mid-December.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) remains in second place with 25 per cent, followed by the Green Party (Grune) with 12 per cent, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 11 per cent, and the Left Party (Linke) with 10 per cent.

In November 2005, CDU leader Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany’s first female head of government following a federal election. Her "Grand Coalition" administration featured members of the CDU, CSU and SPD.

In September 2009, German voters participated in a new federal election. Final results gave the CDU-CSU 33.8 per cent of the vote and 239 seats, followed by the SPD with 23 per cent and 146 mandates. This time, Merkel invited the FDP to form a government. FDP leader Guido Westerwelle serves as foreign minister.

On Jan. 11, Peter Heesen, the head of a Germany’s public-employee union DBB, criticized the government’s recent promise to lower taxes calling it a "tax-cut folly," and adding, "The tax relief pledged at national level mean spending cuts for local and state governments."

Polling Data

What party would you vote for in the next federal election?

Source: Infratest-Dimap
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,500 German adults, conducted from Jan. 4 to Jan. 6, 2010. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.