ALMOST HALF OF GERMANS EXPECT MERZ NOT TO BE CHANCELLOR BY END OF YEAR

BERLIN, SEPTEMBER 18 /SRNA/ - Almost half of the Germans surveyed expect Chancellor Friedrich Merz to be ousted by the end of this year, according to the results of the latest poll conducted by YouGov.

According to the poll, which surveyed 1,611 adults, 48 percent said they expect Merz not to be chancellor by the end of the year, while 31 percent believe otherwise and 21 percent did not provide an answer.

Merz's popularity has been declining over the past few months, and he is facing a new challenge as elections are due to be held on Sunday, September 20, in the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and in the capital Berlin, DPA reports.

The Alternative for Germany /AfD/ secured a convincing victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt two weeks ago, while Merz's Christian Democratic Union /CDU/ received just 17 percent of the vote.

According to the latest polling results, the CDU has only around seven percent support, dangerously close to the five-percent threshold required to enter a new state parliament.

If these results are confirmed in the elections, it would be the CDU's worst result in any of Germany’s 16 federal states or at the national level since World War II.

In Berlin, the Left has a slight lead over the CDU, putting the conservatives' leading position in the German capital at risk.