The conservative Christian Democrats have not suffered major damage in the polls despite having accepted support from the far right. But fewer people now trust Chancellor hopeful Friedrich Merz not to veer to the right.

The front-runner in Germany’s upcoming election says the far-right Alternative for Germany is his “most important opponent” and his party will “never” work with it

Support for Germany's conservative bloc fell by 2 percentage points to 28% within a week, a survey showed on Tuesday after its lead candidate Friedrich Merz used the backing of the far-right to get plans for a migration crackdown through parliament.

Friedrich Merz, the CDU’s candidate for chancellor in Germany’s upcoming snap elections in February, is looking to shore up support among his base. View on euronews

The sweat was dripping off Friedrich Merz after the frontrunner to become Germany’s next chancellor saw his bid to outflank an ascendant far right spectacularly backfire in the Bundestag.

Last week, the CDU broke the mainstream parties' so-called firewall of noncooperation with the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, as it relied on votes from AfD members in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, to pass a nonbinding vote on tougher border and asylum rules.

The centre-right CDU has been accused of breaking 'taboo' by putting forward a motion to the Bundestag for a stricter migration policy which was backed by the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD).

Germany's election frontrunner Friedrich Merz on Monday called on his conservative CDU to "stay the course" after mass protests against its acceptance of far-right AfD support for calls to restrict immigration.