AfD, the Alternative for Germany, is currently polling 13% in all Germany – worrisome enough – and is vying for top ranking in opinion polls in three East German states now facing elections. In Saxony it is tied in first place at 26%; it is tied for first place in Brandenburg at 19%. Both states vote on September 1st. Thuringia votes on October 27th where, at 24%, it lacks only one point for first place.

The results of the German elections: Merkel and CDU/CSU clobbered, Social Democrats, clobbered, and although Merkel’s party will form a coalition and remain in power, the third key story, and the truly alarming one, is that one eighth of the voters, almost 13 percent, vented their anger in an extremely dangerous direction - for the young Alternative for Germany (AfD) far right party.