Merkel’s party dips in poll but still way ahead before Sunday vote

Angela Merkel’s conservatives dropped one percentage point in a poll released on Thursday, three days before a German election in which the chancellor is expected to win a fourth term, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained two points.

The GMS poll put Merkel’s bloc on 37 percent with her main opponent, the Social Democrats (SDP), unchanged on 22 percent.

The AfD, poised to enter the Bundestag lower house for the first time, rose to ten percent with the pro-business Free Democrats and radical Left both on nine percent and Greens on eight percent.

Adding an element of uncertainty, however, the poll put the number of non-voters or undecideds at 34 percent, higher than the 29 percent who did not vote in the last election four years ago. Source: Reuters