Angela Merkel’s rating highest this year

Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel has risen to its highest level this year, a poll showed on Wednesday just four days before closely-watched elections in three states, but her conservative party has not benefited.

The Forsa poll showed Ms Merkel, who is facing resistance at home over her open-door migrant policy, winning 50 per cent of the votes in a hypothetical presidential-style election against her Social Democrat (SPD) rival Sigmar Gabriel, on 13 per cent.

Her rating is up two percentage points from the last poll. However, the conservative bloc, made up of Ms Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), was unchanged at 35 per cent. The SPD, junior partner in Ms Merkel’s ruling coalition, was down one percentage point at 23 per cent. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is expected to perform well in Sunday’s elections in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rhineland-Patatinate and Saxony-Anhalt, climbed one percentage point to 10 percent.

The votes are widely seen as the first electoral test for Ms Merkel on her migration policy after a tough eight months when she has lost support over her handling of the crisis, opened up rifts in her coalition and been at odds with many EU partners.

Barely a week before the polls, Ms Merkel told activists to take heart despite falling support for the party, saying: “It will pay off in the end.”

“These elections are very important... As they will serve as a litmus test for the government's disputed policy” on refugees, Duesseldorf University political scientist Jens Walther said.