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| Europe |
| Schroeder gains further on nervous conservatives |
| 2005-09-10 |
| German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder gained further ground on challenger Angela Merkel in a poll on Saturday and conservatives feared they could again squander a big poll lead to lose another general election. With just days left before the election on September 18, a new survey on Saturday by the Emnid institute for Focus magazine showed the Christian Democrats (CDU) falling another 1.5 points to 40.5 percent in the last week while Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) leapt 3.5 points more to 34 percent. The SPD has gained 8 points in the last month while the CDU lost 3 points. The CDU led by as many as 23 points in late June. The CDU and their likely coalition partners, the Free Democrats, have now slipped about two points below a majority they would need to take power. Rest at link. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #6 I hope so, CA. The problem is that their media are even more monolithically statist than ours. We have alternative channels like FOX, the Washington Times, Rush, and Rantburg that can get the word out more quickly. I wonder if something like Ratherquiddick were tried over there, if it would have been widely discredited as here. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-09-10 21:17 |
| #5 I suspect these polls are as neutral and relevant as the ones who predicted the John F'ng Kerry win. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-10 18:50 |
| #4 Domestically, Schroeder has been acting like a leader lately. May be that could explain the slight increase in his popularity: made a deal with Putin regarding natural gas pipelines that would run under the Baltic, by-passing some eastern European countries thereby eliminating certain risks and costs; basically told the Polish president to STFU, saying that German interests will be decided in Berlin*. This has to be popular with the public. *which just further demonstrates what a sham the whole EU is turning out to be, but that's another topic ;-) |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-09-10 14:42 |
| #3 Remember the "Contract With America"? The reality of CWA was that it clearly and succinctly stated what the republicans who signed on would do if elected. It mattered less what it promised, then the *clarity* of the promise. Voters love clarity in elections. They also know that politicians fear and abhor clarity. So if you find a politician who is willing to stand up and *clearly* state what he believes and which way he will vote, he will persuade LOTS of people to vote for him. Despite what ideologues say, voters are fairly indifferent to most issues, so elect those who convey clarity of message as much as those who appeal to one big thing. So this is what the CDU in Germany needs to do to regain dominance. Create a clear message and stick to it. Define the debate on that message, not on the SD's platform. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-09-10 14:33 |
| #2 No surprise here. Both parties are wedded to the welfare state. Schroder lost a lot of popularity because he was dismantling the welfare state. The CDU is trying to mask the fact that it will continue Schroder's work by pointing to other issues, such as the potential Turkish accession to the EU. Ultimately, however, bread-and-butter issues could prevail. And that is the CDU's main worry. Germany is an example of how democracy and capitalism are uncomfortable bedfellows - politicians use handouts to pander to and create ever more demanding constituencies, and keep on raising taxes until the state's resources are tapped out, whereas businessmen are suffocated by the complex of taxes and regulations put up to shelter those political constituencies. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-09-10 13:18 |
| #1 Pins and needles. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-09-10 13:06 |