• Behind the Numbers: Polling and the German Election

    In February, the Christian Democrats were riding high in the polls. By May, they had dropped some 10 percentage points and the Greens had surged to a temporary peak. Trailing...

  • The Race to Replace Angela Merkel

    There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding Germany’s federal election. But one thing is clear: Angela Merkel is not running again. As the traditional catch-all Volksparteien – the Christian Democrats and...

  • The Rise of Olaf Scholz and the Social Democrats

    Since the beginning of August, the Social Democrats have seen a jump from 16 to 26 percent in opinion polls in the final weeks of Germany’s federal election campaign. The SPD’s Kanzlerkandidat Olaf Scholz is largely credited with this turnaround. In snap polls following each of the three television debates between the three candidates for chancellor, Scholz...

  • The Polls Have Closed in Germany: An Election Readout

    With less than a week to go, the race to succeed Angela Merkel as Germany’s next chancellor has become a nail-biter. The results of Germany’s federal election will determine the coalition talks for a new German government and the ultimate course of the country’s political future. To unpack one of Germany’s most unpredictable and transformative...