AfD is the most popular party in Germany for the first time, with a record 26%

Yes, he's great data scientist. He has more stuff on his webpage, e.g. bias analysis of the different polling institutes, be sure to check it out if you like!

More like the decline of CDU is directly proportional to rise in AfD. Could be a number of reasons, such as alienating fringe voters on singular issues such as defense or trans, or it could be that CDU officials don't show the same animosity towards far right that they used to have.