Pollster sees uncertainty in small parties ahead of German election
"I can't remember it ever being so uncertain and close as to who can even form a coalition," Güllner, the founder of the Forsa Institute polling firm, told dpa on Tuesday.
"This election could be the first time that it is not enough for a two-party constellation without" the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), he said.
Barring an outright majority, which is not anticipated, parties in Germany have to work together to form a coalition government.
The AfD, which has consistently polled in second place at between 20% and 22%, is widely viewed as an extremist party outside the democratic mainstream in German politics, and every other significant political party has vowed never to work with it.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency is monitoring the AfD as a suspected right-wing group.
Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU), and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), remain the clear front-runners in the polls at 27% to 30%.
But Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), a storied political party that was long the other dominant force in German politics, has struggled in the polls at just 15% to 17%, a big fall from the nearly 26% the SPD scored in 2021.
The Greens have been polling in fourth place with 12% to 14%.
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