At the end of October, the popularity rating of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU) had fallen to 24%. The coalition partner, the SPD, had gained one point compared to the previous week (15%), leaving little room for manoeuvre for the coalition: when Olaf Scholz, Friedrich Merz’s predecessor, was elected Chancellor in 2021, his party, the Social Democrats, had 25% of the vote.

A series of unresolved domestic political issues, particularly in the areas of social policy (migration, financing of social security and pension systems), energy policy and economic issues, are causing Friedrich Merz’s popularity ratings . . .

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