Poll: Record Number of Germans Dissatisfied with Chancellor Scholz's Work

A record number of Germans are dissatisfied with the performance of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the worst assessment of the chancellor since the survey was conducted in 1997, Tagesschau reports.

These were the results of an ARD-DeutschlandTrend poll. The public opinion poll was conducted in connection with the second anniversary of the government of the "traffic light coalition" - the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democrats.

Only 17% of respondents are satisfied with the government's work, while 82% are rather dissatisfied or not at all satisfied. This level of dissatisfaction with the government was last recorded more than 13 years ago.

Only 20% of respondents are satisfied with Scholz's work as Federal Chancellor. These are the lowest figures for a chancellor since the survey began in 1997.

23% of respondents believe that Olaf Scholz is a good crisis manager for the country, while 71% share the opposing view.

Scholz's score on all questions has dropped significantly compared to the results after his speech in April 2022.

Not only the Chancellor himself, but also the majority of ministers are criticised. Only Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (52%) is rated mostly positively. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was rated positively by 38%, her Green Party colleague, Minister of Economy Robert Habek - 30%, and the rest of the ministers have even lower scores.

At the same time, the positive perception of the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, continues to grow: he is rated positively by 32%, three percentage points more than in the previous poll.

In connection with the budget crisis, 47% of respondents believe that the government should respond by cutting spending and investment, while 35% would support suspending the debt brake by declaring a new state of emergency. Only 8% would support an increase in taxes and fees.

Other recent polls have also shown a drop in the government coalition's ratings.

In the summer, Deutsche Welle published the results of a poll commissioned by the dpa news agency and conducted by the YouGov sociological institute. The study showed that almost three-quarters of German residents have a negative assessment of the work of the ruling three-party coalition headed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

73% of respondents were disappointed with the work of the "traffic light" government, 68% believed that the Scholz Cabinet was unable to solve the country's pressing problems. Germans were particularly dissatisfied with their chancellor. 66% said that Scholz was doing a poor job.