State election in Saxony: AfD narrowly ahead of the CDU

The CDU and AfD are still neck-and-neck in the run-up to the state elections in Saxony on September 1, according to a new poll by the opinion research institute Civey. In the latest survey by Civey and "Sächsische.de", the AfD landed at 32 percent in the Sunday poll, followed by the CDU with 30 percent. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is in third place with 11%. The Left, the Greens and the SPD each achieved around 6% and would therefore just about make it into parliament. The Free Voters and FDP would not be represented with two percent each.

In March, the AfD was also in first place in a representative survey conducted by the opinion research institute INSA on behalf of "Bild". According to the survey, 34 percent of respondents said they would vote for the party if elections were held in Saxony on Sunday. It was followed by the CDU with 30 percent, with BSW a distant third (11 percent).

Election polls are generally always 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 the opinion at the time of the survey and are not a prediction of the election outcome.

Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU), who still receives high approval ratings for his work in polls, was also asked about possible cooperation with the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance on the ARD program "Caren Miosga" on Sunday. He had spoken to everyone during his time in the Bundestag, but it had not been possible with Wagenknecht, said Kretschmer. "The temperature dropped by five degrees when she entered the room." So far, it is unclear what actually connects the BSW members and who is ultimately in charge. Kretschmer called the BSW a "media construct": "I don't think you can say anything about this group because nothing, nothing at all has been clarified."