New Poll Puts Conservative CDU Just Ahead of Far-Left “Die Linke”
With five weeks to go until the Berlin election, a fresh survey shows these two very different parties locked in a near-tie. Here is what that could mean for a future coalition.
Berlin, 16th August 2026 - A fresh poll, released just over five weeks prior to Berlin's upcoming elections on September 20th, indicates a tight contest between the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the far-left "Die Linke". Conducted by the Insa Institute for the tabloid "Bild", the survey reveals the CDU at 20% and "Die Linke" at 19%.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) trails in third with 17%, while the Green Party and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) follow with 16% and 15% respectively. Neither the Free Democratic Party (FDP) nor the far-left BSW (Bund für Soziale Wohlfahrt) reached the 5% mark required to join the legislature. Both the CDU, "Die Linke" and the AfD have been repeatedly swapping places in various polls recently.
The SPD, however, shows a positive shift from previous polls where it scored as low as 12 or 13%. A two-party ruling coalition no longer yields a majority in Berlin, currently governed by a CDU-SPD team. The most plausible alliances are CDU-Greens-SPD or "Die Linke"-Greens-SPD. The Insa poll surveyed 1,000 eligible Berlin voters between the 7th and 13th of August with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
While these results reflect a moment in time, they don't forecast the actual election outcome. Most leading candidates hail from former West Germany and are relatively young. The CDU's candidate is Finance and Culture Senator Stefan Evers, replacing Governing Mayor Kai Wegner after his fall from grace. The SPD chose Steffen Krach, a political scientist and former Hanover regional president, over former Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey.
The Greens are fielding two candidates, with Environment Senator Bettina Jarasch and Werner Graf, a current Berlin representative, taking the lead roles. Die Linke's candidate is Elif Eralp, a lawyer of Turkish descent who moved to Berlin in 2010.
Written by urgent.news from The Berlin Spectator's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
