CDU Sees Support Diminish Over In-Fighting

According to a poll by the independent Infratest institute published in Monday's issue of newsweekly Der Spiegel, the German conservative opposition CDU/CSU bloc has plummeted from 50 percent support in March this year to just 40 percent this week. At the same time, the ruling Social Democrats are now scoring 30 percent after scraping a historic low of around 23 percent. Yet despite setback after setback, most analysts expect CDU leader Angela Merkel to fend off her detractors until the general election in 2006. "Just because Merkel has opponents within her own ranks does not mean that she is finished," the Financial Times Deutschland said in an editorial Monday. "There may well be plots against her. But we cannot expect an attempted coup."