Nearly half of Germans expect Chancellor Merz gone by year's end
A YouGov poll found nearly half of German voters do not expect Chancellor Friedrich Merz to remain in office through December, adding pressure ahead of key state elections Sunday.
- World
- Anadolu Agency
- Published Date: 10:10 AM 18 September 2026
Nearly half of German voters expect Chancellor Friedrich Merz to leave office by December, a YouGov poll showed, raising the stakes ahead of Sunday's state elections.
Published late Thursday, the representative survey found 48% of respondents said they did not expect Merz to remain chancellor through the end of the year. About 31% said they expected him to stay in office, while 21% were undecided.
The poll landed ahead of elections in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the city-state of Berlin on Sunday, where surveys show Merz's CDU heading for heavy losses.
The conservatives have already taken a sharp blow this month in Saxony-Anhalt, where the right-wing AfD finished first with 43.8%, ahead of the CDU on 17.2%. The result was a major defeat for the party, which had governed the state for decades with changing coalition partners.
In the latest ZDF poll for Berlin, the CDU is at about 20%, down from 28.2% in the 2023 election, and risks losing power in the capital. The socialist Left Party leads with 22%, opening the way for a three-party government without the CDU.
In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the CDU is heading for another setback, polling at 6% in the latest surveys, close to the 5% threshold needed to enter the state parliament. The latest ZDF poll put the center-left SPD at 37% in the eastern state and the anti-immigration AfD at 36%.
Local issues still shape the regional races, but many observers say the party's slide across three state contests this month has been compounded by Merz's weak performance in office, increasing pressure within his party for him to step aside.
Senior CDU leaders plan an internal meeting on Monday. Lawmakers from the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, are due to meet two days later.
A potential leadership change in the CDU would not automatically dissolve parliament or trigger a national election. If pressure within the party forces Merz to step aside, the Bundestag could elect a new chancellor without a nationwide vote.