The AfD has regained its lead in voter favorability, according to measurements by Forsa. In the weekly survey conducted for the broadcasters RTL and ntv, the AfD remains at 26 percent. Conversely, the CDU and CSU have lost two percentage points, falling to 24 percent, which marks their lowest figure since the election.
The Left Party shows a slight gain, improving from 10 percent to 11 percent. The FDP has regained momentum for the first time in months, reaching a current value of 4 percent. The poll readings for the Greens (15 percent) and the SPD (12 percent) remained unchanged.
In terms of satisfaction, federal Minister Friedrich Merz (CDU) hit a new low this week: only 18 percent are currently satisfied with his work, compared to 80 percent who are not. Notably, for the first time, a majority (52 percent) of CDU/CSU supporters are dissatisfied with Merz’s performance.
After November 2025, Forsa conducted its second such survey, directly asking those dissatisfied with Merz’s work for the specific reasons for their discontent, without predefined options. The most frequent criticisms include Merz making ambitious announcements without concrete follow-through (23 percent), and breaking his election promises (22 percent). Concerns were also raised about a perceived lack of clear direction (14 percent), insufficient leadership strength (13 percent), not understanding the everyday problems of most people (13 percent), and speaking without enough forethought (11 percent).
Supporters of the CDU alliance who are unhappy with Merz as Chancellor cited “empty announcements without consequences” (34 percent) and a “lack of leadership strength” (24 percent) as reasons for their dissatisfaction.
These data on party preferences and Chancellor satisfaction were collected between April 7 and April 13, 2026. The survey was based on 2,502 respondents. For the specific measure of dissatisfaction with the Chancellor, 801 eligible voters were questioned on April 10 and April 13.
