Merkel urges beleaguered CDU to ignore opinion polls

* Merkel admits shaky start for her coalition

* CDU leader re-elected for fifth two-year term

By Andreas Rinke and Thorsten Severin

KARLSRUHE, Germany, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday urged her party to ignore opinion polls showing the ruling Christian Democrats far behind the opposition and facing a series of drubbings in six state elections next year.

Merkel, who was re-elected at a party congress to a fifth two-year term as conservative party leader, admitted that her centre-right coalition got off to a poor start in the last year after winning power in the 2009 election.

"Throw the opinion polls in the rubbish bin and let's fight for our goals," Merkel told the 1,000 CDU delegates in the southwestern town of Karlsruhe in a 75-minute speech. "We're Christian Democrats! We can get the job done.

"It's up to us to decide if we're faint-hearted," she said, urging her party not to forget that "Germany is in better shape right now than most other countries. Unemployment is down, growth is up and the malicious critics have gone away."

Merkel's government has slumped badly in opinion polls even though the economy is expanding strongly with growth over 3 percent this year, its fastest pace in two decades, after it emerged from its worst post-war recession last year.

Merkel's CDU, its Christian Social Union (CSU) sister party and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) won the 2009 federal vote with a combined 48.4 percent.

But infighting, unpopular decisions and a perception the coalition lacks clear direction has driven its ratings down to 33-35 percent in opinion polls, trailing a resurgent centre-left opposition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens by 12 points.

Merkel is also under pressure within the EU for pushing the idea of asset value reductions for bondholders in a euro zone rescue mechanism, after Germans -- the European Union's chief paymasters -- balked at her agreeing to the bailout scheme.

The centre-right alliance lost control of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in a May election and risks further defeats in other key states in early 2011 that will likely cause tremors for her coalition in Berlin.

The growing nervousness of the CDU delegates -- many of whom stand to lose their jobs next year in looming defeats -- had caused concern in the Berlin headquarters of the conservative party that is uncomfortable with anything under 40 percent.

There were worries of turbulence in the rank and file that could embarass Merkel in the vote for party leader, where she was running unopposed. A result under 90 percent would have been seen as a humiliating setback.

In the end, Merkel -- who has run Europe's biggest economy since 2005 and the CDU since 2000 -- won 90.4 percent compared with the 94.8 percent she won in 2008.

In her speech, Merkel was customarily vague in many areas. She said the CDU would focus on cutting public deficits rather than tax cuts, as demanded by the FDP coalition partner as well as from the pro-business wing within her CDU. (Writing by Erik Kirschbaum)