Update:
Fact
Elections for state parliament took place in Saxony, Thuringia and Saarland on Sunday. In each of these states, the two major parties (CDU and SPD) lost massive votes. Saxony can keep its conservative Minister President but here, the CDU will have to enter a coalition with the FDP now. In Thuringia and Saarland, the future of the government is unclear, but most analysts are waging on a SPD/Leftist/Green coalition in both states. The Leftists are the great winners of the election, with a plus of 19% compared to last elections in Saarland; they are second strongest now in Saarland and Saxony, and third by a narrow margin in Thuringia. In every state, the CDU is the strongest party, but this is a Pyrrhic Victory in each case; in fact, in Thuringia, they lost a whopping 11.8%.
The SPD, formerly major competitor to the CDU seems to have lost its status as a major people party. Most analysts believe that if the current federal CDU/SPD coalition continues, it can't be called a grand coalition anymore, but a coalition with CDU as the major and SPD, who has an embarrassing 20% in the polls as the minor partner. As a reminder, between 1998 and 2005, the SPD was the strongest party in the country, and the party of former chancellor Schröder.
Opinion
I am very upset with this. The SPD has become very unpopular because it has a very bad leadership. So I believe it would be the best for it to stay in the opposition for four years to have those heads roll and get the competent younger party members to the leadership; but that means we are going to have to endure a CDU/FDP coalition. We've had that, and that was the constellation that brought Germany to its knees in the Kohl era. Needless to say, back then there were still at least a few competent politicians, such as Genscher; but today, neither party can come up with anybody you'd want to entrust the country with.
Some analysts are evaluating the possibility of an SPD/Leftist/Green coalition for the entire country, but the only party here who would bring one or two good ministers to the cabinet would be the Greens. The SPD would obviously want to keep its current staff, and the Leftists, I don't even want to imagine them getting their hold on anything.
I read a report recently that said Merkel herself would prefer to keep the government the way it is right now. Not necessarily because she likes the SPD, but because she loathes the FDP. I used to think the current government does a good job, but after getting some deep insight into the current social troubles in this country, I can't say that anymore. I wouldn't actually mind a social democrat/liberal alliance, but not with the liberal party we have right now. Plus, that is unlikely on so many levels
Germans are huge drama queens, but this one time I have to agree with the general sentiment and say things are bound to get worse no matter what.