Green Party Chancellor candidate Robert Habeck expressed his discontent and surprise on January 9 via a video, stating that it is not right and unintelligible that the ARD and ZDF do not allow a triple TV duel. He believes that the polls should be forced to include the Greens and his person, given the approval of his supporters.
A day later, the ZDF reported that, according to polls, Habeck and Merz (CDU) are neck and neck in the chancellor candidacy question, with Habeck’s value in the Springer publishing house falling even better.
The new election date is February 23. The green Chancellor candidate, Robert Habeck, still sees himself as a suitable candidate for all Germans, arguing for the need of a campaign based on current and leading reasons. The previous popularity and suitability values were marked by the polls of the previous government coalition.
Habeck, addressing potential supporters and Green sympathizers, said: “But the coalition is in the past! From now on, it’s about shaping the future, about the new. Looking back will not decide how we will vote in Germany on February 23, 2025.”
Habeck sees himself as a peer politician in the spotlight of ARD and ZDF, only in comparison to the competitors Friedrich Merz (CDU) and Olaf Scholz (SPD). Alice Weidel, according to polls, has been the Chancellor candidate of the second-strongest AfD party in the country since last month, behind the CDU, which is consistently denied by the Green politician.
At the end of the video, the self-titled “underdog” made an appeal: “If you want this country to have a broader selection of leaders than Friedrich Merz and Olaf Scholz, for the leadership of this country, then I ask you to support the Greens in the polls (..) You can make a contribution by supporting the Greens in the polls, so that the senders must revise their decision.”
Exactly a day later, Andreas Audretsch, the Greens’ election campaign manager, jubilantly stated on the “right” X-platform: “Also at ZDF: Germany wants Robert Habeck as Chancellor. And the Greens are now ahead of the SPD. ARD/ZDF must re-plan. It would be wrong to exclude Robert Habeck without a good reason.”
The ZDF article explains that this week marks the beginning of the hot phase of the short winter election campaign, and that the political situation after the holiday pause often looks different than before, particularly in the Chancellor candidacy question.
According to the polls, there is a head-to-head race between Friedrich Merz (27% approval, minus two) and Robert Habeck (27%, plus two) in the Chancellor candidacy question. The survey, conducted by the Mannheim research group Wahlen, involved 1,433 “representative” participants. For the question “Who would you like to see as Chancellor?”, only 14% (minus two) of the participants prefer Olaf Scholz, and 15% (minus one) prefer Alice Weidel.
In December of the previous year, Habeck and Alice Weidel were not even considered in the same survey. Merz achieved a result of 45% approval, and Olaf Scholz 43%.
The extended question “Who can be Chancellor?” resulted in Habeck’s 30% suitability (no: 66%), and Alice Weidel’s 12% (no: 83%).
The vagueness and uncertainty of such polls are demonstrated by the result of a survey by the INSA opinion research institute for the Bild newspaper, also from December of the previous year.
The Rudi-Dutschke-Straße in Berlin has also spoken up. The Welt newspaper, belonging to the Springer publishing house, titled on January 10: “Suddenly, Habeck is the most popular Chancellor candidate – and he’s leaving Merz behind.”
Based on the latest “Germany trend” survey, conducted by Infratest dimap for ARD-Tagesthemen and Welt, it is said that Habeck, with 28 points, is the best, followed by Merz (CDU) with 25%, and Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Alice Weidel (AfD) with 20%. The definitive result of which Chancellor candidate the Germans consider the most suitable will be shown on February 23 at 6 pm in the election studios of ARD and ZDF.
The Green Party is at least certain for this week: “The polls show: people want Robert Habeck as Chancellor – and we want a triple with Habeck.