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Membership of Mrs Merkel’s conservative CDU party tumbled by 13,000 this year to 434,019 at the end of last month. It is thought that many of those who tore up their membership cards have switched to the hard-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany. The falling numbers have put the CDU in second place behind the centre-left SPD.

GETTY German Chancellor Angela Merkel is losing support form her party

The news was only a little better for the SPD which rules Germany as the junior partner in a coalition led by the CDU. It has shed 9,000 members this year as a result of underwriting the migrant influx which brought with it terror and death to the country. But in a reaction to the rise of the far-right the SPD gained 2,000 new members in November alone.

GETTY The German Chancellor's open door refugee policy has left her unpopular

With just nine months to go before Mrs Merkel stands for a fourth term in office at the country’s general election, the SPD now boasts more members than CDU.

Their enormous popularity lies with the policy failures of the old parties and the large vacuum that created Georg Pazderski, AfD board member

The AfD has capitalised enormously on the problems that the refugee influx has created in the country with nearly 5,000 new members in the past few months. AfD board member Georg Pazderski said: “Their enormous popularity lies with the policy failures of the old parties and the large vacuum that created." A new poll taken by the Forsa research group for Stern magazine showed 28 percent of respondents believing Chancellor Merkel’s refugee policy was “jointly responsible” for the Berlin Christmas market attack on December 19 which killed 12 and injured 48.

Angela Merkel in pictures Tue, August 8, 2017 Angela Merkel has served as German Chancellor since 2005 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000. We take a look at her political career in pictures. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 83 Angela Merkel through the years

And three quarters of all citizens assume the terror threat and the security situation in Germany will play an “important role” in the general election. Over two in three respondents said they believed a hustings debate on internal security would harm rather than help the chancellor. The AfD, which trounced the chancellor in several key regional elections in 2016, is looking to gain seats in the national parliament for the first time next year.

GETTY AfD board member Georg Pazderski