The far-right Alternative for Germany has slipped behind the incumbent political factions in polling for two eastern states which go to the ballot box on September 1, according to latest surveys released Friday.
In Saxony, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, which currently leads the local government in Dresden and the surrounding area, has opened up a six percentage point gap over the AfD, according to polls prepared for German media networks ARD and ZDF. The poll put the CDU at 31 percent, with the AfD on 25 percent.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Brandenburg, the state of 2.5 million that surrounds Berlin, the Social Democrats — polling at 21 percent — have pipped one percentage point ahead of the AfD. The SPD has governed Brandenburg since German reunification, but has struggled to maintain a lead in the polls amid falling popularity nationwide.
Previous surveys puts the AfD in first place in both Saxony and Brandenburg, where the party has capitalized on local discontent over Merkel’s refugee policy. The far-right party also secured the most votes in both states during the European election in May — taking 25.3 percent in Saxony and 19.9 percent in Brandenburg, two percentage points ahead of the CDU and SPD in both cases.
In Thuringia, another former East German state where locals go to the polls in October, the AfD has slipped into third place, behind the left-wing Die Linke and the CDU, according to the latest polling.