Two weeks before the general election, many voters are still undecided – this is what current polls show. Will a new panel on television bring clarity? That is planned.
On this Sunday evening, the Chancellor candidates from the Union, SPD and Greens deliver the eagerly awaited second big TV exchange. Two weeks before the federal elections on September 26th, Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (CDU) is still under pressure to turn the polling trend with the Triell because of disastrous polls. The SPD with Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz is in the lead in surveys. Pollsters see the Greens with their Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock in third place.
The exchange of blows can be seen at 8.15 p.m. on the public television channels ARD and ZDF.
The SPD has expanded its lead in an Insa survey and is now six percentage points ahead of the Union. In the “Sunday trend” for “Bild am Sonntag”, the Social Democrats gain an additional percentage point compared to the previous week and come to 26 percent. The Union is unchanged at 20 percent.
Laschet was warmly welcomed at the CSU party congress
CSU boss Markus Söder said on Thursday that this weekend would be the last chance for a change of mood in favor of Laschet with the CSU party conference in Nuremberg on Friday and Saturday and the TV discussion. He had thus increased the pressure on the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister.
On Saturday, the CSU party conference stood behind Laschet with sustained applause. Previously there had been repeated taunts from Söder against the NRW Prime Minister. Söder was inferior to Laschet in the power struggle for the candidacy for chancellor. He was “very touched by the honest and heartfelt reactions of the CSU delegates,” said Laschet to the “Tagesspiegel” (Sunday). “I speak to Markus Söder regularly and know that he supports me. Some things are also perceived in an exaggerated manner. I am relaxed.”
“The bottom line is that we are stronger than the SPD”
When asked about coalition options for the Union after the federal election, Söder mentioned the possibility of a further alliance with the SPD. “Can a grand coalition come again with the SPD if it gets weaker,” he told the Phoenix broadcaster on Saturday. “The crucial thing is that we are stronger than the SPD, because that is what gives a federal government its claim to leadership.”
Green federal manager Michael Kellner then criticized Söder pleading for “a new standstill GroKo”. “A departure and the end of the continuation-like way can only be achieved with green,” he explained.
Kühnert fights for red-green
The deputy SPD chairman Kevin Kühnert considers an alliance with the Greens and the left in the federal government to be an option, regardless of demands from the Union leadership to Scholz to rule out cooperation with the Left Party after the election. “All-round exclusion has been the life insurance of the CDU and CSU for years because hardly any governments can be formed against them,” he told the news portal “t-online”. “That is over now.”
He’s fighting for red-green, said Kühnert. With a view to Thuringia, Berlin and Bremen he added: “But why should we rule out a coalition that already exists in three federal states?” There, “communism has not broken out, nor have the supermarket shelves been swept empty.” Kühnert also ruled out taking over a ministerial office in the event of an election victory. “No. And that implodes another CDU / CSU election bubble,” he said.
“The SPD doesn’t need advice from Laschet”
At the CSU party congress, Laschet called a possible government participation of the left in an alliance with the SPD and the Greens a threat to internal and external security and the economy in Germany. In his speech he sharply attacked Scholz and the SPD – and with one statement in particular, he provoked indignant reactions from the Social Democrats. “In all the decisions made in post-war history, the Social Democrats were always on the wrong side,” said Laschet, specifically with a view to the SPD’s course in economic and financial policy .
The SPD resisted immediately, and Secretary General Lars Klingbeil accused the Union of a “dirty campaign”. “No to the Iraq war, Brandt’s Ostpolitik, introduction of a minimum wage & basic pension, marriage for everyone, etc. Everywhere we prevailed against the conservatives. I’m very proud of that!” He tweeted. The SPD does not need any advice from Laschet, he said during an election campaign in Worms. “That also shows how the state of the Union is right now. An Armin Laschet who sounds more and more like a mini-Trump.”
Illner and Köhr present the TV triall
On Sunday evening there will also be two quick polls of the broadcasters among the TV viewers for the TV triall, the results of which will be evaluated later in the evening. At the end of August, the private broadcasters RTL and ntv showed the first big triall in the hot election campaign phase. ProSieben, Sat.1 and Kabeleins will have a third TV exchange on September 19.
ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey had said that he hoped for a double-digit million participation in TV viewers on Sunday. The ZDF sends the experienced presenter Maybrit Illner to the live broadcast, with her ARD editor-in-chief Oliver Köhr will moderate the broadcast. The journalist is known to TV viewers for moderating summer interviews with top politicians.


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