Bonn

A NEW BREEZE IS BLOWING. Or is it? After German chancellor Gerhard Schröder lost a vote of confidence for his ruling coalition, thereby dissolving the government and ushering in elections scheduled for September 18, early polls showed his opponent–Angela Merkel of the Christian Democrats–holding a considerable lead. Schröder, meanwhile, along with his Social Democrats (the SPD), was polling between 26 and 27 percent. That was in June. According to yesterday’s polls, the Christian Democrats (CDU) have slipped about 7 percentage points to roughly 42 percent. The SPD, on the other hand, has climbed to 33.5 percent–in no small measure because of the chancellor’s well-polished performance in the election’s one and only televised debate.