May 31, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Germany’s political scene has remained stable this month, according to a poll by Forsa released by Stern and RTL. 35 per cent of respondents would support the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) or the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) in the next election to the Federal Diet, down two points since early May.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Germany’s political scene has remained stable this month, according to a poll by Forsa released by Stern and RTL. 35 per cent of respondents would support the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) or the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) in the next election to the Federal Diet, down two points since early May.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) is second with 23 per cent, followed by the Left Party (Linke) with 14 per cent, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 12 per cent, and the Green Party (Grune) with 11 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.

Merkel’s government has been particularly active in international relations. On May 28, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for increasing pressure on Iran in order to extract more information about its nuclear energy program, which some countries believe is being developed to produce weapons. Steinmeier declared: "Open questions remain, where we have to push for an answer with more time pressure. (...) The ball is in the Iranians’ court. Either it is accepted and we get reasonable answers to our questions, or talks aimed at a diplomatic solution would be further delayed."

Germany’s next federal ballot is tentatively scheduled for September 2009.

Polling Data

What party would you support in Germany’s next federal election?

	May 23	May 2	Apr. 11
Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) / Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU)	35%	37%	38%
Social Democratic Party (SPD)	23%	23%	24%
Left Party (Linke)	14%	14%	14%
Free Democratic Party (FDP)	12%	11%	11%
Green Party (Grune)	11%	10%	9%

Source: Forsa / Stern / RTL
Methodology: Interviews with 2,502 German adults, conducted from May 19 to May 23, 2008. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent.