In a hypothetical direct election for the Governing Mayor of Berlin, CDU candidate Stefan Evers would be the frontrunner, according to a report by Tagesspiegel citing the polling institute Civey. The current Governing Mayor of Berlin is not directly elected by the city's residents.

The online poll, conducted by Civey between 22 July and 7 August among 1,500 eligible voters, found that 20 percent of respondents would vote for Evers. In this simulated direct vote scenario, AfD candidate Kristin Brinker would place second with 15 percent, followed by SPD candidate Steffen Krach with 14 percent.

The top candidates for the Left party and the Green party currently lag significantly behind their respective parties' overall poll ratings.

24%

Of respondents would vote for none of the leading candidates in a hypothetical direct election

The poll also indicated that 7 percent of those surveyed were undecided. Approximately 2.5 million Berliners are eligible to vote on 20 September in elections for the House of Representatives and district assemblies.

Comparison to previous polling

Results for several candidates showed fluctuations compared to previous data. Brinker's 15 percent was reported as being below the AfD's previous Civey poll result of 18 percent, though some reports place that previous figure at 19 percent. Krach's 14 percent was described as being slightly better than the SPD's previous result of 12 percent, while other sources cite a previous figure of 13 percent.

The Left party candidate Elif Eralp was seven percentage points behind her party's last poll result of 18 percent. For the Green party, Werner Graf's 9 percent was eight percentage points below a previous result of 17 percent, though other reports state the previous result was 16 percent.

Evers' 20 percent was two percentage points higher than the CDU's 18 percent result in the last Insa poll from 23 July. While the Left party leads in many polls, the specific candidate performance in this direct election simulation shows a gap between party support and individual candidate preference.