With six weeks to go before the general election, the Christian Democrats are struggling and confidence in prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende has hit a historic low for a sitting premier, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.

Just 31% of voters back the prime minister and 35% of his own party would like him to step down as leader, according to TNS Nipo research, which will be published on Saturday.
Balkenende is sixth on the list of people voters would trust to be prime minister, the paper says, without going into further details.
Successor
On Friday, foreign minister Maxime Verhagen told the AD he is not interested in succeeding Balkenende as party leader.
‘No, I am not the crown prince. Let there be no misunderstanding about that,’ Verhagen said.
CDA members are holding their annual conference on Friday and Saturday during which amendments can be made to the party’s election manifesto.
Several opinion polls show the party is in third place, behind Labour and the VVD Liberals.