In the latest poll, the current German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has surpassed not only the current head of German government, Olaf Scholz, but also the opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, in terms of support for the post of chancellor.
These results from the Forsa Institute poll were reported by Bild. The survey showed that 39% of respondents would like to see Pistorius as chancellor, while the leader of the opposition, CDU Merz, lags behind with 25%.
Even among the CDU/CSU supporters, 22% of respondents support Pistorius.
58% of respondents who support the Social Democratic Party of Germany want to see the current Minister of Defense run for chancellor, while 30% support Scholz.
Only 13% of all German voters believe that Scholz should also be his party’s candidate for chancellor in the upcoming elections.
The survey also shows that while Pistorius can score points in the politically conservative camp, Merz has no chance on the left of the spectrum: only 2% of SPD and Green supporters would choose Merz in a potential competition with Pistorius.
For now, despite the collapse of the “traffic light coalition” and Scholz’s government, the Social Democratic Party plans to keep the current chancellor as its leading candidate in the upcoming snap elections.
Polls show that more than half of Germans favor early elections. Polls also predict a victory for the main opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union.