Germany's Social Democrats Closing In on Merkel's Party, Poll Shows

The Social Democrats (SPD) are narrowing the edge of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of German Chancellor Angela Merkel before the general election in September, a survey shows.

The CDU would get 33% and the SPD would receive 32% of the vote, the figures projecting the center-left party's highest result since April 2006.

For Merkel's party, this means it projected result remains unchanged compared to the last week.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) will come third with 10% of the vote, losing 1 percentage point. The Greens (at 7%) also lose a single percentage point, while leftist party Die Linke's result is projected at 8%, unchanged compared to the previous week.

The liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP)'s result is also unchanged, at 7%.

The opinion poll, cited by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has been conducted for Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

A direct race between SPD candidate Martin Schulz and Merkel herself would result in Schulz winning with 46%, compared to 40% for Merkel, while the previous poll had indicated a 40-38% win for Merkel.