Germany's Ruling Social Democrats Post Worst Result Since 2021 Elections - Poll

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Germany's ruling Social Democrats have lost 4 percentage points in a week to land on 14%, their weakest showing since the 2021 general elections, a Forsa poll out Tuesday found.

The center-left party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost almost half of the support it enjoyed at the ballot box more than two years ago, while the rival conservatives came out on top with 32%, up 4 points from last week and almost 8 points from September 2021, the poll commissioned for RTL and n-tv news channels showed.

Scholz's minority partners in the three-party coalition government likewise saw their popularity erode. Liberal Free Democrats polled below the 5% threshold and would not make it into the parliament, if an election were held this week, while the Greens remained at 14% but lost 0.8 points compared to 2021.

The right-wing AfD party added 1 point from last week to poll at 21%, up from 10.3% it secured at the previous general election, while hard-left Linke continued to poll steadily at 4% for the 11th consecutive week.

The same survey, conducted from October 10-16 among more than 2,500 Germans, found that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had eclipsed that in Ukraine, with 64% of those sampled saying that tensions in the Middle East were the most important issue, versus 35% who said it was Ukraine. Elections in Bavaria and Hessen were the burning issue for 28%, while 18% said it was migration.