Survey: 68% of Germans expect a far-right AfD state premier by 2026

A total of 68% of the people surveyed recently expect a politician from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to take the helm of a federal state by next year, a poll published on Sunday revealed.

The survey was conducted by the Insa opinion research institute for the Bild am Sonntag Sunday newspaper.

State elections are scheduled for 2026 in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

According to the survey, 43% of respondents expect the AfD to provide the regional premier in at least one federal state, while 25% said they expect an AfD politician to be premier in several federal states.

A total of 19% do not believe that an AfD member will be a regional premier, while 13% said they do not know or did not say.

Of those queried, 47% said they are against the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) cooperating with the AfD.

But 40% oppose this so-called firewall against a cooperation with the far-right party, while 6% do not care and 7% did not specify.

In a 2018 resolution, the CDU rejected potential coalitions and similar forms of cooperation with both the AfD and the Left Party.