SPD Popularity Reaches Record Low

Two recent opinion polls give slightly different pictures of German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's current popularity: According to a poll done by the Infratest Dimap Polling Institute for the ARD television channel, only 24 percent of the Germans would vote for the Chancellor's Social Democrat (SPD) party if elections were held on Sunday. That's an all time low -- the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) would get 48 percent of the vote. But according to a poll conducted by the ZDF television station, the SPD's popularity is on the rise, partly because of the chancellor's decision to step down as party chair. The ZDF poll shows the SPD's popularity has risen 1 percent, to 29 percent, since January. At 48 percent, the results for the opposition CDU were the same.