BERLIN, Aug. 18 - The Centre-left Social Democrats have overtaken the Greens and are closing the gap between conservatives in the Bundesregime less than six weeks before the general election, according to an opinion poll of Thursday.
The conservative bloc led by Armin Laschet, who has been widely seen as frontrunner to succeed the candidate of the Sept. 26 election, has ebbed since June last when it was polling 28% - 30%.
The latest poll by research institute Forsa put the conservatives at 23% unchanged from a week ago. The Social Democrats whose candidate Olaf Scholz tops the popularity ratings, went up 2 points at 21%.
This is the thin gap between opposing parties since March 2017 and opens various coalition options. The most likely scenario from at least a few weeks ago, a conservative-Greens alliance, appears less likely now.
The Greens, led by chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock, were down 1 point at 19%.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has little impact on voting intentions although Germany had the second largest military contingent there after the United States and is trying to evacuate people.
After 16 years running Europe's biggest economy, Merkel is stepping down as the chancellor after the election. Her bloc, made up of her Bavarian Democrats and the Bavarian Christian Social Union, appears to be missing her electoral pull.
The ratings of Laschet, Premier of the most populous country in German state, North Rhine-Westphalia, have dropped since he was seen laughing on a visit to a flood-stricken town and had to apologize.
Voters find Merkel, the finance minister of the coalition, as a safe pair of hands. Some 29% of respondents told Forsa they would back Laschet if there was a direct vote for chancellor, about 17 points ahead of Scholz. Baerbock was 15%.