In a queue for a campaign event in the city of Neubrandenburg, AfD supporter Reinhart tells us that the traditional parties are being washed away.
“Not only in Germany. In Italy, in France, in Great Britain. Everywhere the traditional parties go down.”
He smiles when asked what he thinks of Merz, saying: “Oh well everyone thinks the same about him.
“He is arrogant, out of touch, not on the same level as the general public.”
Merz’s backers argue that the chancellor has had a tough time with global events and that a lot of the problems the nation faces are ones he has inherited.
But whatever faith people had in his ability to fix those problems, it is apparently ebbing away – and, the brutal truth is, it can be hard to find voters who like him.
The former corporate lawyer’s tack to the right on issues like immigration has failed to erode AfD support while also alienating people further to the left.
His blunt communication style has also caused irritation, such as his dismissal of “work-life balance”, telling Germans they need to work more and take less sick leave.
Supporters would argue he is a man who is ready to administer the medicine the nation needs, even if people do not like the taste of it.
But the country’s long-stuttering economy, high energy costs and fraught debates about immigration are feeding a sense of national gloom.
Earlier this week, the leaders of eight German states backed Merz and said restoring trust in the CDU lay in “listening and taking political action, not in debates over personnel”.
But while no one within his party has openly challenged Merz for the top job, murmurings of discontent have grown louder.
Martin Rohloff, the CDU candidate for Neubrandenburg, thinks Merz does not have the “Fingerspitzengefühl, the feeling for the small persons”.
