After all the political surprises and worries about the rise of populism over the past year or so, the upcoming German election slated for September 24, should provide welcome relief. The opinion polls all point to a clear victory by Merkel’s CDU/CSU, with the opposition SPD trailing by some 15 percentage points. We say should, of course, because as we saw with last year’s Brexit and Trump victories, and the UK general election result earlier this year, the polls do not always get it right. However, strengthening our conviction in a surprise-free result is the fact that when we look