AfD Widens Poll Lead Over CDU/CSU to Record Seven Points

A Forsa Institute survey for RTL/ntv's 'Trendbarometer', fielded July 28–August 3 among 2,501 respondents and published August 5, found the AfD at 28% nationally against 21% for Merz's CDU/CSU — the party's largest lead over the governing conservatives yet recorded by Forsa. The Greens polled 16%, with the SPD and Die Linke at 12% each. The survey also found 85% of respondents disapproved of Chancellor Merz's performance and 56% said they trusted no political party at all, underscoring both the erosion of support for the governing coalition and broad public disaffection ahead of the September 6 Saxony-Anhalt and September 20 Berlin/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state elections. The result echoed a separate ZDF Politbarometer (Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, fielded July 28–30) that had already put the AfD at a then-record 28% against a flat 23% for CDU/CSU.