Forsa poll finds 13 percent satisfied with Merz as German government hits record low approval
A Forsa poll for RTL/n-tv's Trendbarometer found only 13 percent of Germans satisfied with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and 11 percent satisfied with his CDU/CSU–SPD government — record lows since the coalition took office. Dissatisfaction reaches 89 percent on the economy, inflation, pensions and health, and 95 percent among 18- to 29-year-olds, blue-collar workers and the self-employed; 82 percent of SPD voters and 56 percent of Union supporters are unhappy with the government's work. Only 17 percent rate Merz a better chancellor than predecessor Olaf Scholz, and just one in ten believes either the government or the chancellor can recover significant trust this year.
Only 13 percent of Germans are satisfied with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and 11 percent with his CDU/CSU–SPD government, the lowest readings since the coalition took office, according to a Forsa poll conducted for the RTL/n-tv Trendbarometer. Eighty-five percent are dissatisfied with Merz's work and 87 percent are unhappy with the government overall.
The discontent is broad-based across policy areas. Forsa found 89 percent of respondents dissatisfied with the coalition's record on the economy, on the fight against inflation, and on pensions and health; 83 percent on infrastructure; and 60 percent on tackling irregular migration. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, blue-collar workers and the self-employed, dissatisfaction reaches 95 percent in each group. The disapproval bleeds into the coalition's own base: 56 percent of CDU/CSU supporters and 82 percent of SPD supporters say they are unhappy with the government's work. Just 11 percent believe the current coalition governs better than its SPD–Greens–FDP predecessor, and only 17 percent rate Merz a better chancellor than Olaf Scholz. One in ten thinks either the government or the chancellor can win back significant trust over the rest of the year.
Chancellery chief Thorsten Frei (CDU) acknowledged the figures on ARD's Morgenmagazin. "If you look at the record, we have moved things forward in many areas," he said. "But the fact is that we still have almost no economic growth, and the growth that exists is neither sustainable nor self-sustaining. That is why I understand that people are dissatisfied. That is the yardstick by which we want to be measured." On the coalition's promised quiet, frictionless cooperation, Frei added: "We are unfortunately not yet where we want to be."