Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, known colloquially as "AKK" in Germany, has been boosted by favorable opinion poll ratings on Monday as she vies with other candidates to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as party leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

According to the latest RTL-n-tv Trendbarometer survey conducted by the Forsa institute, the acting CDU secretary general would be strongly favored by German voters if they had to elect a new chancellor directly.

Kramp-Karrenbauer would win a popularity contest against vice-chancellor and finance minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) with a margin of 15 percentage points, as well as inflicting a bruising defeat against SPD leader Andrea Nahles with a 33 percentage-point-lead. By contrast, AKK's co-competitors for the CDU leadership Friedrich Merz and Jens Spahn would both trail Scholz by 4 percentage points and 18 percentage points respectively.

"If Merkel's successor as CDU leader was determined by the popularity of the candidates, Kramp-Karrenbauer would currently be the clear favorite," Forsa director Manfred Guellner commented on the findings. Although chancellors in Germany are elected by the federal parliament (Bundestag) rather than by voters, Guellner noted that voter preferences for individuals nominated by parties for the post still constituted an "important indicator" for their electoral chances.

Merz and Spahn are both associated with calls for the CDU to emphasize its conservative values more heavily and have repeatedly made public criticisms of German asylum policies under Merkel. By contrast, Kramp-Karrenbauer is generally considered to be a close ally of the chancellor.

The candidates have recently entered the decisive stage of presenting their political visions to CDU bases at eight regional party conferences across the country. A final leadership decision is then scheduled to be reached at the next CDU party conference on Dec. 7 and 8.