BERLIN, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A relative majority of Germans want the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to lean more to the left in its policies, according to the latest Politbarometer survey published by the German broadcaster ZDF on its website on Friday.
According to the survey, 44 percent of Germans want the SPD to move further to the left, 25 percent do not want any changes, and 21 percent would like the SPD to move away from left-wing policies.
The respondents were divided on whether the SPD should be part of the government coalition with the Christian Democrats (CDU-CSU). While 50 percent of all respondents believe that it would be best for the SPD to go into opposition now, 42 percent are in favor of the party remaining in the coalition.
In the wake of the two state elections in Saxony and Brandenburg last weekend, in which the SPD suffered heavy losses, support for the Social Democrats across Germany has recovered slightly but is still near an all-time low.
According to the survey, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU-CSU union would still be the strongest political force in Germany, with 28 percent of respondents answering that they would vote for the CDU-CSU if elections were held.
Although Germany's Green Party (Gruene) lost one percent compared to the last Politbarometer poll, it is still the party of choice for 24 percent of respondents and could form a coalition with the CDU-CSU after the next national elections scheduled in 2021.
