Some 20% think German conservatives should work with far-right

Some 20% of those surveyed said if the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party wins the chancellorship next year, its candidate Friedrich Merz should form a coalition government with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Merz has ruled out forming a government with the far-right party, various branches of which Germany's domestic intelligence agency has classified as either extremist or suspected extremist.

The survey was conducted by the opinion research institute INSA for the Bild newspaper, and was published on Saturday.

Some 34% surveyed said if the CDU wins it should work with the party of the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the left-centre Social Democratic Party (SPD) to form a governent.

In the survey, Merz and Scholz both received 30% support, with 35% favouring neither of them.

German chancellors are not elected directly by the voters, but by the German parliament or Bundestag. Typically the party that receives more votes seeks to form a government by getting other parties to join a coalition.

Both Merz and Scholz did better than in the last such survey, with Merz and the CDU's sister party, Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) up five points and Scholz, who is seen as widely unpopular, up nine.