Merkel's CDU losing ground ahead of 2017 polls: survey

Sixty-four percent of Germans are opposed to Chancellor Angela Merkel's taking power for a fourth consecutive term after 2017 parliamentery elections, a recent poll said.

In the survey, 66.1 percent of men and 61.9 of women said they do not want to vote for Merkel's CDU in the next polls, when asked about their support in the survey conducted by Insa for Cicero magazine. The survey said revealed that voters who are the most fiercely critical of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are aged between 45 and 54.

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(AfD) and Germany's Left Party are particularly critical of Merkel. A vast majority of these parties do not approve of her open-door policy to migrants.

Merkel has also lost support among economically weaker sections, according to the survey. People, whose income is lower than 1,000 euros are opposed to her policies.

The response is similar among less educated segments of the population. Some 74.8 percent of those who do not have university degrees said they do not want to see Merkel ruling Germany after the 2017 elections while this rate stood at 58.2 percent among graduates surveyed.

The Chancellor is dubbed “Mama Merkel,” as Germany has accepted more refugees than other EU countries in the first influx of refugees to Europe. Her open-door refugee policy has exposed deep divisions in the CDU, which she has headed for nearly a decade