(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Social Democratic Party (SPD), a component of Germany’s governing coalition, gained some public support last month but remains behind its partners, according to a poll by Infratest-Dimap. 40 per cent of respondents would back the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) or the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) in the next election to the Federal Diet, down one point since mid-October.

The left-leaning SPD is second with 30 per cent—up two points in two weeks—followed by the Left Party (Linke) with 10 per cent, the Green Party (Grune) with eight per cent, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) also with eight per cent.

Official results from the September 2005 election to the Federal Diet gave the conservative CDU and 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.

Last month, Kurt Beck was re-elected as SPD leader with the support of more than 95 per cent of his caucus. Ronald Pofalla, general secretary of Merkel’s CDU, recently criticized Beck’s leadership, saying SPD members "were being taken backward instead of looking forward" during his mandate.

Polling Data

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

Source: Infratest-Dimap
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,500 German voters, conducted from Oct. 29 to Oct. 31, 2007. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent.

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