SPD loses more ground to CDU/CSU in new poll
2 June 2005
BERLIN - German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic Party (SPD) lost more ground to his conservative challenger Angela Merkel according to a poll released on Thursday in the run-up to autumn general elections.
Merkel's Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU) would currently win 48 percent, while Schroeder's Social Democrats fell by a point to 28 percent, said the ARD TV poll.
The CDU/CSU with its Free Democrat (FDP) ally would currently win 55 percent, while Schroeder's ruling SPD-Greens alliance would get 37 percent, the poll said.
Schroeder called for early elections last month after his SPD was badly defeated in a key regional vote.
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