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Merkel juggernaut rumbling toward victory: polls
AFP - Saturday, September 5
BERLIN (AFP) - - Chancellor Angela Merkel looked to be closing in on victory in this month's German election after a poll Friday pointed to a robust majority for her conservatives and their favoured coalition partners.
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The survey for public broadcaster ZDF showed that ahead of the September 27 vote, Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and their partners of choice, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), were flying high with 52 percent support.
That would give them a clear ruling majority and allow Merkel to dump her "grand coalition" with her awkward partners -- the conservatives' traditional rivals, the Social Democrats (SPD).
Merkel's conservatives have looked unbeatable for much of the year. They are polling at 37 percent, despite losses in state elections at the weekend, with the FDP at 15 percent.
The opposition Greens tallied 11 percent and the far-left Die Linke 10 percent.
The SPD continues to trail far behind the Christian Democrats (CDU) with just 23 percent. And only 26 percent would like to see SPD chancellor candidate, Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, lead Germany versus an overwhelming 62 percent for Merkel.
In Germany, voters cast ballots for the party, not their preferred candidate.
The poll was conducted by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen institute September 1-3 among 1,332 potential voters.
On Wednesday, two separate polls confirmed the trend.
The Forsa institute found the Christian Union bloc with 36 percent against just 22 percent for the Social Democrats.
And opinion research institute Allensbach showed Merkel's conservatives with 35.5 percent and the SPD at 23 percent.
Seventy-four percent of respondents said they thought the CDU would win the elections against just four percent who believed in an SPD victory.
That was the lowest level for the Social Democrats since Allensbach first started asking the question in 1965.
Merkel, 55, reiterated in an interview published Friday that she believed a centre-right coalition with the Free Democrats would be best-placed to lead Germany out of its worst post-World War II economic slump.
"I am calling for a coalition between the strongest-possible CDU and the FDP. We have the greatest amount in common when it comes to economic growth," she told the WAZ newspaper.
"Grand coalitions are nothing more and nothing less than an exception in democracy."
Pollsters say that with a large number of undecided voters, there are still three weeks to see a potentially significant shift in the polls.
Although it seems highly likely that the conservatives will come out on top, the role of junior partner in the governing coalition could still be up for grabs.
"But the CDU chairwoman (Merkel) will have the luxury of being able to choose" her coalition partner, political scientist Peter Loesche of the University of Goettingen in northern Germany.
Forsa chief Manfred Guellner said he believed a coalition of the conservatives and the Free Democrats was still the most likely, noting that the SPD would need to score 28 percent on election day to prevent such a tie-up.
"I consider it doubtful that that will happen," he told Stern magazine.
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Enlarge Photo
German Chancellor Angela Merkel waves to the audience during an electoral meeting in Oldenburg, northern Germany. Merkel looked to be closing in on victory in this month's German election after a poll Friday pointed to a robust majority for her conservatives and their favoured coalition partners.
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