When Annalena Baerbock was named the Green Party's first-ever chancellor candidate in April she was credited for her party's remarkable rise in opinion polls later that month.

But then she suffered a barrage of personal attacks, putting her on the defensive, as criticism targeted her personal credibility: Baerbock, who has never held a government office, was accused of minor inaccuracies in her official resume, of a delay in paying taxes on a sizable Christmas bonus, on plagiarizing parts of her new book, and then she used a racial slur in a quote in an interview.

Each time Baerbock was quick to apologize. But her approval ratings declined, and the party's campaign did not managed to regain the positive momentum of earlier in the year.