Does Germany still need the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and if so — on what issues? This question was clearly hanging in the air at the party conference at the end of June. The center-left Social Democrats were shaken to their core by the February federal election, when the party recorded its worst result since 1887.

The result of the latest monthly ARD Deutschlandtrend poll is unlikely to lift their spirits. The SPD, which governs as junior partner with the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) parties, has only continued to leak support since the election.

If national elections were held this Sunday, the SPD would only get 13%, according to the poll, conducted by the research institute infratest-dimap of 1,312 eligible voters between June 30 and July 2.

Led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the CDU/CSU has gained slightly compared to June, rising to 30% ( 1). The Alternative for Germany (AfD), the far-right, anti-immigrant party that is officially considered partly right-wing extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, would still have 23% of the vote.

The Green Party and the Left Party, meanwhile, could expect to receive 12% ( /-0) and 10% ( 1), respectively. Other parties, including the newly founded Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) (4%; /-0) and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) (3%; -1), would still not have........

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