Issue Watch
Track global public opinion on current issues.
- 2008: Race for the White House
- 2008: The U.S. Electoral College
- Abortion
- Africa
- Angela Merkel
- Death Penalty
- Economy and Globalization
- Environment
- European Union
- George W. Bush
- Global Warming
- Gordon Brown
- Hamas
- Immigration
- Iran
- Iraq War
- Kevin Rudd
- Latin America
- New Zealand Election 2008
- Nicolas Sarkozy
- North Korea
- Oil and Gas
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Silvio Berlusconi
- Stem Cell Research
- Stephen Harper
- Terrorism
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Democrats
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Republicans
- U.S. Election 2008: The Primaries
- Vladimir Putin
- Yasuo Fukuda
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Eleven-Point Lead for Germany’s Conservatives
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Germany’s Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) continue to be the country’s most popular organizations, according to a poll by Infratest-Dimap. 37 per cent of respondents would vote for either party in the next election to the Federal Diet, down one point since mid-March.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) is second with 26 per cent, followed by the Left Party (Linke) with 12 per cent, the Green Party (Grune) with 11 per cent, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 10 per cent.
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.
On Apr. 8, Merkel’s administration approved a plan to boost pensions by 1.1 per cent—higher than the expected increase of 0.46 per cent—starting in July.
Juergen Thumann, head of Germany’s main industry lobby group—the Federation of German Industry—criticized the increase, saying, "This costs jobs, this doesn’t move Germany further forward; this is simply populist."
Polling Data
What party would you vote for in the next federal election?
|
Apr. 2 |
Mar. 18 |
Mar. 5 |
|
|
Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) / |
37% |
38% |
39% |
|
Social Democratic Party (SPD) |
26% |
27% |
28% |
|
Left Party (Linke) |
12% |
12% |
12% |
|
Green Party (Grune) |
11% |
11% |
10% |
|
Free Democratic Party (FDP) |
10% |
9% |
8% |
Source: Infratest-Dimap
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,500 German voters, conducted from Mar. 31 to Apr. 2, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.