German Chancellor AngelaMerkel (C) and Armin Laschet (1st, L), Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader in North Rhine-Westphalia, attend the final CDU campaign rally for the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in Aachen, Germany, May 13, 2017. (Xinhua/Luo Huanhuan)
BERLILN, June 9 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party (Christian Social Union or CSU) would currently receive the backing of 38 percent (plus one percentage point compared to May) of the German electorate if a national election were held on Sunday.
The CDU and CSU would thus increase their already considerable lead over rivals, including the Social Democrats (SPD), led by former President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, whose support fell by three percentage points to 24 percent, according to a survey of the German public television station ARD's "Deutschlandtrend".
The Green party would receive seven percent (down one percentage point) of the vote, while the Left party enjoy the confidence of eight (up one percentage point) and the Liberals (FDP) of 10 percent (up two percentage points) of the electorate.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD), an anti-establishment platform which has proposed leaving the Eurozone and drastically reducing immigration, would receive 9 percent (down one percentage point).
While passing the hurdle of 5 percent needed to enter the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag) comfortably, the survey currently gives the AfD no realistic chance of entering government.
The AfD has suffered a series of setbacks, including the departure of its former leader Frauke Petry, since an earlier ARD "Deutschlandtrend" poll gave the party a voter share as high as 16 percent in a national election less than a year ago in September 2016.
1,503 eligible voters were interviewed for the survey and the margin of error was given at 1.4 - 3.1 percent.
The survey is likely to be read as a vindication for the conservative leadership of Merkel, who has been in the office of German Chancellor for 11 years and is seeking a fourth term this summer.
In turn, the publication of the figures may add to the woes of Martin Schulz who has failed to maintain an early surge in the SPD's popularity after he assumed its leadership in March 2017.
The SPD has since experienced disappointing results in three recent state elections in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, raising questions over Schulz' ability to successfully compete with Merkel for the chancellorship on a federal level.
The survey further indicated that 53 percent of the electorate would cast their vote for the incumbent Merkel if they could chose a chancellor directly.
In comparison, Schulz was only seen securing 29 percent of votes, down seven percentage points compared to last month.
When respondents were polled on the popularity of individual politicians for ARD "Deutschlandtrend", Merkel reached the highest figure she has experienced since the beginning of the refugee crisis in August 2015 with 64 percent of interviewees stating that they were "happy" or "very happy" with her work as a politician.
Merkel's popular support had previously fallen in the wake of the arrival of over 1 million refugees in Germany.
The AfD in particular sought to capitalize on popular fears prompted by Merkel's welcoming stance to refugees of largely Muslim faith from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a spate of recent terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic extremists in Germany.
The politician to achieve the second highest rating for popularity in the survey was Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble (CDU) at 63 percent, followed by Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) at 62 percent.
Only 36 percent of those questioned stated that they were either "happy" or "very happy" with the work of Schulz who lost six percentage points compared to last month.
