The German Social Democrats are advancing in the final setback for Merkel’s conservatives

BERLIN, Aug 30 (Reuters) – German center-left Social Democrats (SPD) expand leadership on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Conservatives in latest poll published Monday, boosting chances of coalition government from the left after next month’s general election.

The Insa poll on Bild TV showed its support for the SPD and its candidate for chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who jumped 2 percentage points to 25%, the highest reading of the poll in four years.

Merkel’s Conservatives and top candidate Armin Laschet lost 3 points to a record low of 20%. Green environmentalists stood at 16.5%, the business-friendly FDP at 13.5%, the far-right AfD at 11% and the far-left Die Linke at 7%.

Insa chief Hermann Binkert said Laschet could only become chancellor with a three-party “Jamaican coalition” made up of black conservatives, the Greens and the yellow FDP.

“Olaf Scholz would have four options to lead the government,” Binkert added. This included a so-called “traffic light” coalition with the Greens and the FDP and a more left-leaning coalition with the Greens and Die Linke.

Another possibility would be a coalition government led by the SPD, supported by the Greens and the Conservatives, or a coalition led by the SPD, supported by the Conservatives and the FPD.

The Conservatives rallied behind Laschet, promising to go on the offensive after he struggled to revive his campaign in a televised debate with rivals.

Laschet, leader of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), was tried for losing the heated televised debate with his two main rivals on Sunday, according to a quick poll, as polls showed his party lagged behind the SPD. .

Laschet has been on fire since he was caught on camera laughing during a visit last month to a flooded city, but senior party officials praised his fighting style in Sunday’s debate, even if he didn’t seem to win immediately. voters.

“We have to fight for the next four weeks,” Jens Spahn, Laschet’s ally and CDU health minister, told Bild TV, rejecting suggestions that the Conservative alliance abandon Laschet in favor of Bavarian Conservative Markus Soeder.

“You don’t change coaches during the game,” Spahn said.

The CDU slide marks a notable drop for the party after 16 years in office and four consecutive victories in the national elections under the leadership of Merkel, who plans to resign after the election.

Soeder, who earlier this year ran against Laschet to be the Conservative Chancellor candidate, said his former rival had laid a good foundation for the next three-way debate in two weeks.

“From my point of view, this was exactly what we expected to give us a new impetus,” Soeder told reporters in Munich. “It also motivates our own election activists.”

Laschet avoided the post-debate instant poll on Monday, which showed that of the voters polled by pollster Forsa, 36% believed he won the SPD candidate Olaf Scholz, ahead of 30% for the SPD candidate. Greens, Annalena Baerbock, and 25% for Laschet.

Scholz is the most popular candidate at the polls. Despite the leadership of the SPD, they would still have to team up with two other parties to govern.

Additional reports by Alexander Ratz, Andreas Rinke and Christian Kraemer; Editing by Nick Macfie, Bernadette Baum and Jonathan Oatis

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