Poll: Merkel’s party slipping before German state election that could curb government power

Poll: Merkel’s party slips in German election race

BERLIN — Support for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party is slipping before an election in Germany’s most populous state, a poll said Wednesday — highlighting growing prospects that the vote could curb her center-right government’s ability to set the political agenda.

The May 9 election in North Rhine-Westphalia, home to 18 million people, comes amid relentless squabbling in Merkel’s new national government. The local branch of her conservative Christian Democrats also have faced corruption allegations.

Conservative governor Juergen Ruettgers’ coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats is now polling at 44 percent, several points short of a majority, a survey by the Forsa institute for the Stern weekly found Wednesday.

Support for the Christian Democrats has slipped three points in a month to 38 percent, while the Free Democrats are static at a lackluster 6 percent, it said.

That matters because Merkel’s national government is made up of the same parties.

If Ruettgers’ coalition fails to win re-election, Merkel’s government will lose its majority in parliament’s upper house, which represents Germany’s states. That would leave her having to haggle with opposition parties to get legislation passed.

Merkel already has made a poor start to her second term. The Free Democrats have pushed hard for big tax cuts next year, while her conservatives — raising concerns over strained public finances — have sought to apply the brakes.

The partners also are deadlocked over whether a major overhaul of the public health insurance system is needed.

Meanwhile, the Free Democrats’ leader, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, has dominated headlines recently by laying into the “socialist traits” of Germans’ approach to welfare benefits — a broadside that was aimed at bolstering his party’s core support but drew rebukes from the consensual Merkel.

“There are too many discussions that really aren’t necessary,” Merkel told ARD television last weekend. “What is important is not that governments name problems but that governments find solutions. People rightly expect that from us.”

The head of the Federation of German Industries, a natural ally, this week signaled impatience with the government, which he accused of a “lack of orientation.”

Federation head Hans-Peter Keitel complained in the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of “errors of craftsmanship in short-term policies and, above all, a lack of mid- and long-term concepts.”

In North Rhine-Westphalia itself, Merkel’s party faces allegations that lobbyists were offered the chance to buy face time with governor Ruettgers. The party’s regional general secretary quit, but Ruettgers says he didn’t know about the offer and rejected talk of corruption.

The Forsa poll of 1,016 people was conducted Feb. 22-26 and gave a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

It put total support for opposition parties at 51 percent: 34 percent for the center-left Social Democrats, 11 for the Greens and 6 for the Left Party.

Those numbers would allow either for a left-wing alliance or for Merkel’s party to cling on to power by allying with the Greens or Social Democrats.