A surprising German poll showed Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) tied for second place with the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) just before this weekend's regional elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The incumbent Social Democrats are at 28 percent, the CDU and the AfD at 22. Do these numbers capture the real strength of the AfD? We'll see, but Germany is not the sort of place where one brags to strangers about casting a ballot for the most right-wing party in the country. (This, by the way, is the most mainstream of mainstream pollsters: Forschungsgruppe Wahlen, working for the TV network ZDF.)
It is a warning.
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