Thursday, October 30
The CDU faces potential losses in next year’s Berlin state election, according to a new Insa poll commissioned by news website Nius. With approximately one year until the Berlin election, voters’ support for Governing Mayor Kai Wegner and his party has slipped to 23%.
This represents a significant decline from the 28.2% the CDU secured in February’s 2023 repeat election. Die Linke now sits in second place with 17% support, a notable recovery from its 12.2% result in 2023’s repeat election.
Wegner’s coalition partner, the SPD, polls at 16%, with the Greens polling at 14%. The governing black-red coalition’s difficulties have also benefited the AfD, which has risen to 15%, compared to 9.1% in 2023. This marks the first time the AfD has polled ahead of the Greens in Berlin.
If these levels persist until the election, Wegner and his CDU-SPD coalition would lose their majority. A Kenya coalition of CDU, SPD and Greens would mathematically be possible, as well as a left-wing alliance of Die Linke, SPD and the Greens.
The latter scenario would see the successor party to East Germany’s SED appoint Berlin’s Governing Mayor for the first time. However, recent elections suggest that Die Linke is increasingly losing ground in its traditional eastern strongholds, where the AfD has become the dominant force. Die Linke has instead gained support in Neukölln, Wedding, and the previous Green stronghold of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
