Six weeks before the German federal election on February 23, the issues of migration and economy are prominently present in the awareness of voters in Germany, as an Infratest survey for the “Deutschlandtrend” of ARD from Monday to Wednesday of this week has shown.
37 percent of Germans see the themes of immigration and flight as one of the two most important political problems that the government should focus on after the election, a 14 percent increase compared to the beginning of December. Almost as many (34 percent) say the same about the economy, an 11 percent decrease. The themes of war and peace, environment and climate, and social injustice follow, with 14, 13, and 11 percent of the respondents, respectively.
Just a month ago, the economy was the leading theme in this ranking, with twice as many mentions as the theme of migration. Various economic policy measures are currently being discussed in the election campaign. The proposal to introduce tax-free bonuses for overtime working full-time employees is particularly popular, with more than three-quarters (78 percent) of the respondents saying it would be in the right direction. 71 percent of the respondents support state aid for companies that invest in Germany. Two-thirds (67 percent) of the respondents also support an increase of the minimum wage from its current 12.82 euros to 15 euros. A slight majority (53 percent) also sees a general reduction of corporate taxes as being in the right direction, while a third (35 percent) disagrees.
Almost half of the respondents (48 percent) support the abolition of the CO2 surcharge for the use of fossil fuels, while four in ten (39 percent) are in favor of its continuation. The Germans are divided on the proposal of a state purchase premium for electric cars produced in Germany, with 44 percent seeing it as being in the right direction and 45 percent seeing it as being in the wrong direction. The demand to lift the economic sanctions against Russia is met with a clear majority of rejection, as six in ten Germans (61 percent) reject it, and a quarter (28 percent) support it.