According to a poll conducted by the opinion research institute Insa for “Bild am Sonntag” the German voters’ dissatisfaction with Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and the ruling black-and-red coalition reached unprecedented levels since Merz took office in May of last year. Specifically, 70 percent of those surveyed were dissatisfied with Merz’s work, while only 21 percent expressed satisfaction.
The sentiment concerning the entire black-and-red coalition was even lower, with 73 percent of respondents being unhappy, compared to only 20 percent who were satisfied-another record low. This dissatisfaction was apparent across party lines: 69 percent of SPD voters and 56 percent of Union supporters are dissatisfied with the coalition’s performance. Furthermore, only 28 percent of SPD voters and 49 percent of CDU/CSU supporters reported being satisfied with Chancellor Merz.
Merz’s political actions are receiving particularly poor reception in eastern Germany, where only 12 percent approve of his work, and a significant 80 percent are dissatisfied. Hermann Binkert, head of Insa, told “Bild am Sonntag” that even voters belonging to the governing parties are predominantly unhappy with the federal government, adding that the Chancellor now convinces only about one in every two Union voters. Binkert concluded that it is unlikely that the Chancellor and the coalition will manage to reverse this negative trend.
In Insa’s weekly “Sunday Trend” the Alternative for Germany (AfD) maintained its position as the strongest political force with 26 percent. The CDU/CSU was close behind at 25 percent, with no change from the previous week. The SPD managed a slight increase to 14 percent, while the Greens rose to 13 percent. Conversely, Die Linke (10 percent) and the miscellaneous parties (5 percent) each lost one point. The polling numbers remained unchanged for the FDP (3 percent) and BSW (4 percent). This data was collected from 1,205 individuals between April 7th and April 10th.