AfD leads in Saxony-Anhalt ahead of state elections - CDU remains at 23 percent

A few more days until the state elections on Sunday. A new survey sees the AfD still clearly ahead of Prime Minister Schulze's CDU.

Clearly ahead in surveys: the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt. Photo: Peter Gercke/dpa

Magdeburg. Shortly before the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD is still clearly ahead of the CDU, according to a survey by the elections research group on behalf of ZDF. Accordingly, the AfD with its top candidate Ulrich Siegmund has 41 percent, one point more than a week ago. Prime Minister Sven Schulze's Christian Democrats remain unchanged at 23 percent. The state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt will be re-elected on Sunday.

The Left follows in third place in the survey with 11.5 percent - 1.5 points less than the research group determined the previous week. The SPD lost 0.5 points and got 8.5 percent, the Greens remained unchanged at 6 percent. The BSW with 4 percent (plus 1 point) and the FDP with 3 percent would not get over the five percent hurdle. The other parties together achieved 3 percent.

According to the polling institute, with an election result like the one in this survey, the AfD would miss its goal of governing alone. The more parties make it into parliament in Magdeburg, the less likely it is that an absolute majority will be for the AfD, which is classified by the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Saxony-Anhalt as definitely right-wing extremist. An alliance of CDU, SPD and FDP currently governs Magdeburg.

The AfD also has a clear lead in other surveys

The Elections Research Group surveyed a total of 1,044 eligible voters from September 1st to 3rd. According to ZDF, the survey is representative; the error range is plus/minus three percentage points at a share value of 40 percent and well plus/minus two percentage points at a share value of 10 percent.

The AfD's clear lead over the CDU in the survey corresponds to surveys by other institutes. In a survey by the opinion research institute Insa on behalf of “Nius”, the AfD was recently at 43 percent and the CDU at 22 percent. Infratest dimap saw the AfD at 42 percent in a survey for ARD at the end of August and the CDU at 22 percent.

Election surveys are generally always subject to uncertainty. Among other things, weakening party ties and increasingly short-term voting decisions make it more difficult for opinion research institutes to weight the data collected. In principle, surveys only reflect the opinion at the time of the survey and are not predictions of the election outcome.

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