AfD Tops Poll in Germany’s Most Populous State as CDU Hits Record Low

CDU leader Friedrich Merz and AfD’s Alice Weidel

The right-wing, anti-globalist AfD party has crossed another political threshold in Germany, taking first place in a federal-election poll in North Rhine-Westphalia for the first time.

In Germany’s most populous state, Forsa puts the AfD at 24%, ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU on 22%, according to reports from the German press.

The location is as significant as the numbers. North Rhine-Westphalia is the industrial heartland of western Germany, home to Cologne, Düssel...