Most Germans do not want Merkel back as chancellor

According to a survey, a clear majority of Germans do not want Angela Merkel (CDU) back as Chancellor. According to a representative online survey conducted by the Civey Institute for the newspapers of the Funke media group, 71 percent of those questioned do not want the politician back in office. Only just under a quarter (23 percent) would like Merkel to be chancellor again.

43 percent of those surveyed think Merkel was better than the current head of government Olaf Scholz (SPD), 41 percent are of the opposite view, and 16 percent are undecided on the question. 77 percent of supporters of the Union are of the opinion that Merkel was better in office than Scholz. On the other hand, 77 percent of SPD supporters believe that Scholz is the better chancellor.

As expected, the number of supporters of the CDU who would like Merkel back to the chancellorship is high: 45 percent of them want to see the CDU politician as chancellor again, 48 percent are against it. Only seven percent of SPD supporters long for Merkel.

In East Germany, Merkel's tenure is apparently viewed more positively than in the West: the question "Was Angela Merkel as Chancellor better than the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz?" Yes, 52 percent of those questioned in the East, while only 42 percent did so in the West.

According to Funke, around 5,000 citizens aged 18 and over were surveyed on Thursday. The statistical error for the overall result was 2.5 percent. Merkel officially left office in December 2021. Only recently she spoke in detail in the "Spiegel" and defended her policy towards Russia. She worked on a solution until the end and tried around the summer of 2021 to create an independent European discussion format with French President Emmanuel Macron with Russian President Vladimir Putin, she said.