New Delhi, July 19 -- BERLIN - Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany now leads Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU bloc by eight percentage points nationally, according to a fresh Insa poll for Bild newspaper, placing the AfD at 29 percent against the center-right's 21 percent. The Social Democrats and Greens each stand at 13 percent, leaving the governing coalition without a Bundestag majority on present numbers unless it partners with the very party both coalition partners campaigned against.

The Insa poll was conducted between July 13 and 17, drawing on 1,201 respondents for Bild. Its timing overlaps with a separate Forsa Institute study finding that 85 percent of Germans now negatively assess Merz's performance as chancellor, w...