Poll: AfD reaches 34 percent in Thuringia
Just under ten months before the state elections in Thuringia, the AfD is further extending its lead according to a recent Insa survey. The party, which has been classified as right-wing extremist by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia, achieved 34% in the survey commissioned by Funke Medien Thüringen and published on Thursday. This would make it the strongest force. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which is planning to form a new party, was not listed as an option in this survey.
According to the survey, forming a government in Thuringia would continue to be extremely difficult. Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow's Left Party is only in third place in the survey with 20 percent - behind the CDU, which has 22 percent. Ramelow is currently governing Thuringia with an alliance of the Left, SPD and Greens. However, his coalition does not have a majority in parliament and is dependent on approval or abstentions from the opposition to pass legislation. In the past, the opposition, including votes from the AfD, has also passed laws against the will of the minority government.
According to the poll, the SPD has nine percent support in Thuringia. In contrast, the Greens and the FDP must fear for their re-entry into parliament. Both only achieve four percent in the poll - and would therefore not make the leap over the five percent hurdle. The poll's margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Election polls are generally always fraught with uncertainty. Among other things, declining party loyalty and increasingly short-term election decisions make it difficult for opinion research institutes to weight the data collected. As a matter of principle, surveys only reflect opinion at the time of the survey and are not forecasts of the election outcome.
For the Insa survey, 1,000 Thuringians aged 18 and over were interviewed between October 30 and November 7. State elections are also scheduled in Saxony and Brandenburg in the fall of 2024.
Despite the AfD's strong showing in the polls, forming a right-wing extremist government in Thuringia remains challenging. With the current government coalition lacking a majority, approval or abstentions from opposing parties, including the AfD, are crucial for passing legislation.
The upcoming state elections in Thuringia could see significant shifts in government power, as the AfD continues to gain support, while parties like the SPD and Greens may struggle to meet the five percent threshold.
Source: www.dpa.com
