Pro-business Friedrich Merz most popular candidate to lead CDU: Poll

Merkel triggered the race to succeed her when the 13-year chancellor announced she was resigning her party office and preparing a gradual exit from politics.

The pro-business economic liberal Friedrich Merz is the most popular among voters of the three candidates vying to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as leader of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU), a poll showed on Thursday.

Merkel triggered the race to succeed her when the 13-year chancellor announced she was resigning her party office and preparing a gradual exit from politics after her conservatives suffered setbacks in two key regional elections last month.

With the race still in its very early stages, a YouGov poll for business daily Handelsblatt showed 23 per cent of the public favouring Merz, an old rival whom Merkel defeated in an inner-party battle almost two decades ago during her rise to the top.

With a month to go until a party congress chooses the new leader, 17 per cent of those polled backed current CDU general-secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, dubbed "mini-Merkel" because of their political closeness to the chancellor.

A third candidate, Health Minister Jens Spahn, best known for his calls for tougher immigration controls, had the backing of 7 per cent of the voters.

Though Merkel says she plans to stay in office until 2021, the party's new leader would be a leading candidate to succeed her, although only the centrist Kramp-Karrenbauer could easily continue the existing coalition with the Social Democrats.

More than a third of respondents had no view, either way, suggesting that the picture could change radically in a race in which further candidates could yet emerge.

(With inputs from agencies.)