Populist / nationalist right AfD surges to all time high in German poll | Eastern NC Now

Germany's populist / nationalist anti-immigration Alternativ fur Deutschland (AfD) is surging in the polls, running at an all-time high, as the governing left falters.  Meanwhile, in today's re-run of the state election in Berlin, ordered by the Consitutional Court as a result of voting irregularities in the previous election, there has been a substantial swing to the right.

The respected British polling firm YouGov, in their most recent poll released February 10, found that if the elections for the Bundestag were held today, the AfD would receive 17% of the vote, making it Germany's third largest party and a higher percentage than the party has ever polled.  The governing Social Democrats are down to 19%, and the traditional conservative CDU/CSU are running at 27%.  The right of center Free Democrats, traditionally an ally of the CDU but now in coalition with the Social Democrats has been hurt by association with the current government and has dropped to 6%.  The conservative Free Voters are running at 2% which would not qualify them for any seats, and 7% are undecided.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/germany-support-for-afd-climbs-to-all-time-high-surpasses-greens/

Exit polls on today's elections in the state of Berlin, which is both a German state as well as a city, show gains for both the CDU and AfD.  The CDU, which has joined the AfD in blasting the current government on illegal immigration policy, appears to have gained about 10 points on the faltering Social Democrats and emerged as the leading party in Berlin, which has been governed by the Social Democrats for decades.  The Social Democrats could find themselves in third place when all the votes are counted, but it is still possible that a three party coalition of the left could eak out a majority. 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/berlin-reruns-election-test-scholzs-spd-2023-02-11/

Berlin is the second German state since the Federal Republic was founded that has had an election thrown out by the Constitutional Court for voting irregularities and an entire new election ordered.  It is shameful that voters in a number of US states have never been given similar relief by our courts, particularly Arizona in 2022.

UPDATE: With all votes counted, the two conservative parties, the AfD and CDU were the only ones to gain vote share.  All other parties saw their vote shares diminish.  The overall swing to the right was 11.3 percentage points.  The Free Democrats were punished for their alliance with the Social Democrats by losing all of their seats, as they have in two previous state elections in other German states last year, which may encourage them to bring down the national coalition by pulling out of it.  The CDU gained 22 seats for a new total of 52, while the AfD gained 4 seats for a new total of 17.  The Social Democrats received their lowest vote total ever in Berlin.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/02/13/left-wing-support-collapses-after-berlin-re-runs-election-over-errors/