The party, which has been classified in some quarters as being securely on the extreme right, climbed to 26% approval in the Sunday poll conducted by the opinion research institute Forsa on behalf of RTL/ntv. In the Bundestag elections, the party had received 20.8% of the vote.

It is closely followed by the CDU/CSU, which is still below its result in the general election (28.5%) with a current 25%. The SPD achieved 15 percent (16.4 percent) in the Forsa survey. The Greens are virtually unchanged at 11% (11.6%), while the Left Party is at 9% (8.8%). The FDP and BSW both achieve four percent.

If federal elections were held on Sunday, the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats would no longer have a majority. They had negotiated a coalition agreement after the election, which now needs to be ratified. CDU leader Friedrich Merz is to be elected Chancellor in the Bundestag on May 6.