Support for Germany’s ruling bloc falls to five-year low

In Germany in mid-August 2026, RT wrote that support for the ruling bloc had fallen to a five-year low. Campaigning is under way in Sachsen-Anhalt, where WELT says polls still put the AfD ahead. Özdemir warned before a state election that the AfD could misuse intelligence information, and Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that Höcke apparently wants to take neo-Nazis back into the AfD.

Within the governing camp, the SPD proposed anchoring heat protection and climate adaptation in the Grundgesetz, and the Union was skeptical. The Union also accused SPD minister Carsten Schneider of going it alone on heat protection. Klingbeil is fighting for support inside the SPD, the SPD rejected cutting the child maintenance advance (Unterhaltsvorschuss) for teenagers, and there was criticism of a planned housing benefit reform.