Martin Schulz during an SPD conference in Orscholz | Ronald Wittek/EPA Schulz effect still buoying SPD: polls Another poll puts party ahead of Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) has a narrow lead on Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) ahead of the German general elections, according to an INSA poll published in Bild Wednesday.

The SPD, which selected former European Parliament President Martin Schulz as its candidate for chancellor, gained 2 percentage points in the last week, and would win 32 percent of the vote if an election was held now. The CDU and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) lost 1 point, falling to 30.5.

In a separate poll for Stern magazine also published Wednesday, the SPD trailed slightly, with 31 percent of the vote to the CDU and CSU's 33 percent.