Most believe German coalition won't last until next election

More than half of people in Germany do not expect the current coalition between the mainstream centre-left and centre-right parties to hold together until the 2029 elections, according to a survey published on Sunday.

The survey, conducted by the INSA Institute for the Sunday tabloid Bild am Sonntag, found 58% of those polled believe that Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition government will not last. Some 24% do believe the coalition will survive, while a further 18% did not know or did not answer.

Around three-quarters of the more than 1,000 respondents said they were dissatisfied with the government’s work, while 16% said they were satisfied.

A total of 1,004 respondents across Germany took part in the survey between April 29-30.

AfD at 28% 

A second survey by INSA put support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) four points ahead of Merz's centre-right bloc.

Support for the AfD was 28%, while Merz's conservative bloc - made up of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) - sits at 24%. 

The SPD was unchanged from the previous week's poll on 14%, with the opposition Greens rising by one point to 13% and The Left stable on 11%.

The polling firm surveyed 1,207 voters between April 27-30.

The federal government, comprising the CDU, CSU and SPD, took office just under a year ago. Friedrich Merz was sworn in as chancellor on May 6 last year.