Germany's anti-migrant AfD party slumps to worst poll results in seven months

AfD polls at 8 per cent while Angela Merkel boasts highest numbers of 34 per cent

Frauke Petry, head of Alternative for Germany (AfD), won up to a quarter of the voting public in some regions last year (JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Support for the right-wing Alternative for Deutschland party in Germany is polling at its worst rate in seven months.

A poll by the Forsa research group, for broadcaster RTL and Stern Magazine, showed the anti-migrant and Eurosceptic AfD had dropped to an 8 per cent share.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives meanwhile are polling at 34 per cent and her closest rivals, the Social Democrats (SPD) are hot on her heels with 31 per cent.

The research however, conducted between 13 February and 17 February, only polled 2,502 of the population.

It comes ahead of the federal election later this year.

Forsa head Manfred Güllner said: “At the moment the AfD is hardly able to score points with the refugee crisis, which it has been using to get voter support, and the chaotic leadership of US President Donald Trump, who was at first celebrated, is tending to cause alarm given the crises around the world.”

The poll also revealed, that if Germans were voting for their chancellor, 39 per cent would punt for Angela Merkel – one more point than last week.

Former European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who has boosted the SPD’s popularity since nomination as candidate in late January, was down one point to 36.

It also found the far-left Linke remained on 8 per cent and the Greens stayed on 7 per cent.

Mr Güllner also said internal strife was proving an issue for the AfD.

"The few moderate AfD supporters have emigrated to the SPD because their chancellor candidate Martin Schulz is thought to be capable of displacing Angela Merkel, who they hate so much," said Mr Güllner.

The anti-migrant group, founded in April 2013 and chaired by former businesswoman Frauke Petry, beat Ms Merkel’s CDU to third place in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state election last year.

It has scooped up almost a quarter of the vote in some parts of the country.

The AfD last recorded 8 per cent in a Forsa poll seven months ago.

The last time it polled this badly in research by the Institute Allensbach, which also published poll results this week, was in December 2015.

Reuters