BERLIN, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Christian Social Union (CSU) is still losing voter support with just a few days to go until regional elections in its Bavarian homestead, an opinion survey published on Thursday by Spiegel magazine and Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper found.
According to the poll, the CSU can currently expect to secure only 33 percent of votes. The figure marked a decline in support compared to surveys in September and August by three and five percentage points respectively.
The Greens (Gruene) achieved the second highest rating in the poll with 18 percent, followed by Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 13 percent, the German Social Democrats (SPD) with 11 percent and the Alliance of Free Voters with 10 percent. The findings were based on a regular and representative survey conducted by the Civey opinion research institute on behalf of Spiegel and Augsburger Allgemeine.
The CSU, the sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has traditionally dominated politics in Bavaria.
Markus Soeder (CSU), acting governor of Bavaria, has recently blamed infighting in the ruling "grand coalition", formed at the federal level by the CSU, CDU and SPD, for the current weakness of his party in opinion polls. "These are all numbers which are incredibly influenced by politics in Berlin," Soeder argued.
Soeder's party chief Horst Seehofer serves as the interior minister in the federal government and is widely seen as a key source of dissent in Merkel's fourth governing cabinet. A confrontation between Seehofer, Merkel and the SPD over Seehofer's defense of the controversial ex-intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen is a sign that there is still "room for improvement in the cooperative work of the grand coalition", said Soeder.
Seehofer has since rejected accusations of undermining his party's chances in the upcoming electoral race. "I have not interfered with Bavarian politics, nor the leadership of the election campaign", the interior minister told Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper. He countered that developing a strategy for the regional election was the responsibility of the governor.
The voter share which the CSU ultimately secures in the ballot on Oct. 14 will determine whether it must find a regional coalition partner and what alliances are possible in this context.
In spite of the CSU's progressively downward trend in polls, Soeder insists the party has done well for Bavarians while in power. "We are the safest state; we have the lowest unemployment rate. Living in Bavaria is a privilege," he said during a recent televised appearance. The governor pleaded with voters not to treat regional elections in his state as an opportunity to punish the federal government in Berlin and asked them to reconsider their decision before casting a protest vote.
