Merkel government coalition trumped by opposition in poll

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government suffered in a poll on Friday which saw opposition Social Democrats and Greens score their highest level of voter support in 11 years.

The survey, released by ARD public television, said a coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens would win 51 percent of the vote if elections were held now.

This compares to 36 percent for Merkel's ruling coalition of Christian Democrats (CDU), Christian Social Union Bavarians (CSU) and Free Democrats (FDP).

The pro-business Free Democrats, scoring just four percent, would fail by one point to win representation in parliament.

The dimap poll of 1,507 people, conducted by the Infratest Institute at the start of the month, also found that 74 percent of the population was unhappy with the government's performance, down four points on June.

Merkel's own popularity also dropped four points to 45 percent against a background of financial turmoil in Europe and worry at home over the amount of financial support Berlin might have to provide to bail out debt-ridden euro-zone partners.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010