Merz Approval Falls to Record Low as Kerkeling Testifies on AfD Ban

In Germany in October 2026, an ARD "Deutschlandtrend" survey found that only about one in ten respondents was satisfied with Friedrich Merz, the lowest approval value ever measured for a chancellor, while the Union fell to a five-year low. In the Thuringian state parliament, entertainer Hape Kerkeling called for proceedings to ban the AfD, and jurists discussed whether the evidence is sufficient; the AfD criticized a statement by Kerkeling as scandalous. Merz halted a planned sugar tax, which the Süddeutsche Zeitung described as provoking new centrifugal forces within the coalition.