Poll: AfD strongest force in Saxony with 37 percent

The AfD has further extended its lead over the ruling CDU in a new poll. If state elections were held on Sunday, the AfD would receive 37% of the vote - three percentage points more than in the previous month - according to a survey conducted by the polling institute Civey on behalf of the "Sächsische Zeitung" and "Leipziger Volkszeitung". The CDU would therefore receive 27 percent (-1). The SPD, as a coalition partner, would have to worry about entering the state parliament with 5 percent (-1). The Left Party would remain unchanged at 10%, the BSW at 8% (-1) and the Greens would stagnate at 6%.

According to Civey, the survey is representative and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. The underlying sample was collected online between September 21 and October 5.

AfD already at 40 percent in May survey

A minority government consisting of the CDU and SPD is in power in Saxony. In May, the AfD was already at 40 percent approval in the monthly Sunday poll, according to newspapers. In the state elections a little over a year ago, the CDU scored 31.9 percent, just ahead of the AfD with 30.6 percent.

Election polls are generally fraught with uncertainty. Among other things, declining party loyalty and increasingly short-term voting decisions make it difficult for opinion research institutes to weight the data collected. In principle, polls only reflect opinions at the time of the survey and are not forecasts of possible election outcomes.