German Chancellor Merkel Will Lose To Martin Schulz When Germans Go To The Polls Six Months From Now

New Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Martin Schulz addresses a news conference at their party headquarters in Berlin, Germany, January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Spiegel Online: Merkel Might Lose After All

With just six months until Germans go to the polls, Angela Merkel's re-election is looking less certain by the week. Martin Schulz is a dangerous adversary and his Social Democrats are full of the kind of enthusiasm that the chancellor's party lacks.

In November 1998, Angela Merkel gave an interview to the photographer and writer Herlinde Koelbl. It was a moment of uncertainty in Merkel's career, coming as it did just after Chancellor Helmut Kohl, on whose cabinet Merkel had served for seven years, lost that year's general election. Kohl had failed to recognize that Germans had grown weary of his leadership and now, his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), found itself in the opposition.

Merkel was lucky. The new CDU head Wolfgang Schäuble had chosen her as his secretary general. But she resolved at the time to not allow her career to end as Kohl's had.

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Update #1: German Social Democrat candidate would beat Merkel in chancellor vote - poll (Reuters)
Update #2: 5 ways Martin Schulz plans to dethrone Angela Merkel (Politico)

WNU Editor: I do not think it is because German's have grown "weary" of her as told by Spielgel Online .... I think it is more because she has burned her base when she opened her borders to all of the refugees of the world .... and she refused to listen to their objections for the past 2 years. This blog has a lot of readers in Germany, and when I started blogging on the issue of Merkel and immigration almost 2 years ago the sentiment that I got in my emails was overwhelming negative. And while I suspect her party's base is still there .... they are clearly not motivated to go out and vote for her even though she has adopted a "get tough" approach towards migrants in the past few weeks. Her Social Democratic (SPD) challenger Martin Schulz knows this, and in the past few weeks he has adopted a "more restrained approach" towards immigration .... avoiding the issue entirely when pressed .... and not surprisingly he is now in the lead. One of the reasons why President Trump won the Republican primary and eventually the Presidency was on the issue of immigration. Social Democratic (SPD) leader Martin Schulz will also win the Chancellery .... and it will also be in the issue of immigration albeit on a position where he is trying his best to avoid taking a position on it.