Survey: German coalition parties losing support

The parties in Germany's ruling coalition are losing public support just four months into their term, according to a survey due to be published at the weekend by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

In the poll conducted this month by the INSA opinion research institute, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz lost one percentage point compared with the previous week's support rating and now stands at 25%.

Its coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), also fell by one point to 14%.

If federal elections were to be held on Sunday, 25% of respondents said they would vote for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), as the far-right party held its strong rating of the previous week.

There was no change in the ratings for the other parties represented in the Bundestag lower chamber of parliament, according to the survey of 1,204 eligible voters between September 8-12.

Election polls are generally subject to uncertainty. Among other things, declining party loyalty and increasingly short-term voting decisions make it difficult for opinion research institutes to accurately weigh the data collected.