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SPD candidate Olaf Scholz consolidates German election lead with TV debate win

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  1. Kuromantis
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    This seems like the big question if the CSU is going to fail. If Linke is primarily Ostalgists who aren't supporters of the EU for more fundamental reasons than insufficient democracy instead of a...

    A snap poll for ARD television taken soon after the 90 minute debate showed that 41% of those asked thought Scholz was the most convincing performer, compared to 27% for Laschet and 25% for the Greens candidate, Annalena Baerbock.

    In the last three months the conservatives have lost 8-9 percentage points. Laschet, the jovial if uncharismatic leader of Germany's most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia, is trying to make up for mistakes during the campaign.

    In the debate, Laschet also pressed Scholz on whether he would form an alliance with the Greens and the far-left Linke, which opposes NATO and is critical of many aspects of the EU.

    Scholz again declined to rule out working with the Linke, arguing first that voters must have their say in the election. However, he made clear that there were clear differences between the parties which would make a coalition very difficult.

    This seems like the big question if the CSU is going to fail. If Linke is primarily Ostalgists who aren't supporters of the EU for more fundamental reasons than insufficient democracy instead of a German DSA analogue and all of the SPD's (brand) new voters are centrists who voted for the CSU that aren't concerned about the state of Germany, and unlike in the US there isn't a laundry list of problems and talking points for progressives to bring up immediately when someone says things are fine, (although there still are some fairly important problems) then it doesn't seem to be likely that anyone will actually be pressed to not just make another centrist government and continue to do nothing.