Skip to content
Politics

Germany’s Social Democrats Overtake Merkel’s Bloc in Poll

  • SPD gains two points to 23% in Forsa poll, CDU/CSU down to 22%
  • Soeder raises specter of ‘brutal’ debt under SPD government
An election campaign poster featuring Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

An election campaign poster featuring Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg
Updated on

Germany’s Social Democrats overtook Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bloc for the first time in 15 years, prompting a top conservative ally to go on the attack. 

Markus Soeder, head of the Bavarian sister party of her alliance, offered a taste of what the German conservatives will campaign on in the coming weeks. Speaking Tuesday in a Bloomberg webinar, he raised the specter of a SPD-led government that would impose “brutal indebtedness,” abandon balanced budgets and back “massive” tax hikes.