The CDU leader has become the least popular German chancellor in almost 30 years, according to a fresh poll
A total of 84% of Germans are dissatisfied with the performance of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, including 51% of supporters of his own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, an ARD-DeutschlandTrend poll has suggested.
Merz’s ratings dropped by another 3% in June, reaching a record low of 13%, according to the results of the study published on Thursday.
The findings make the CDU leader the least popular chancellor since the Infratest Dimap research company began carrying out monthly polls on behalf of German broadcaster ARD in 1997.
Germans are mostly concerned by the country losing its attractiveness for business (78%), the negative effects of climate change (66%), and the migrant influx under Merz (51%), the study suggested.
If an election were held now, the Union, an alliance between the CDU and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), would receive only 22% of the vote, losing to the right-wing opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) by 5%, it said.
According to the ARD-DeutschlandTrend, the AfD, which advocates tougher immigration policy and opposes Berlin’s aid for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, remains Germany’s most popular political party, being backed by 27%. Its co-leader, Alice Weidel, has the support of some 25% of the public.
On Thursday, the ruling CDU/CSU-SPD (Social Democratic Party) coalition announced that it had agreed sweeping reforms, which it claimed would revive the economy and counter the rise of the AfD. The measures include cuts to income tax for low- and middle-income families, an overhaul of the pension system, and stricter rules for employees’ sick leave.
“There is also no reason for pessimism… The best years of our country are not behind us, but there are very good years ahead of us,” Merz claimed.
Weidel slammed the measures proposed by the coalition, describing them as “even more left-wing redistribution and minimal compromises that don’t deserve to be called ‘reforms.’”
“The fact that this is being sold as a ‘breakthrough’ shows only one thing: this government’s complete inability to reform,” she wrote on X.
The AfD co-chair told Reuters earlier this week that the only way to rescue the German economy, which contracted in 2023 and 2024, was to restore economic ties between Berlin and Moscow. “Cheap energy from Russia was the secret of the success of ‘Made in Germany’. We need it back,” Weidel insisted.
