Would the Union govern better than traffic lights? The Germans have strong doubts

Friedrich Merz (CDU) recently launched a violent attack against Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his traffic light coalition in the Bundestag. In the general debate, the leader of the Union parliamentary group spoke of an “increasingly clear loss of confidence among the population” in the “solution competence and the reliability of this federal government” – and attested to the coalition’s “technically miserable government action”.

The bad news for Merz in the Germany trend for December: only a minority of the population of 17 percent believes that a union-led federal government would solve the country's upcoming tasks and problems better than the traffic light. More than half - namely 52 percent - estimate that the CDU and CSU would do this "similarly well" or "similarly badly". And almost a quarter of those surveyed (24 percent) even believe they would do it worse.

As can be seen from the representative survey by Infratest Dimap on behalf of ARD “Tagesthemen” and WELT, distrust of the competence of the Union is particularly pronounced among supporters of the SPD (43 percent), Left Party (38) and AfD (60). .

This inventory is in sharp contrast to the assessment of the chancellorship of Angela Merkel (CDU) - to which Merz is said to have a deep dislike. Looking back, 62 percent said they were “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with Merkel’s rule; 36 percent are “less” or “not at all” satisfied. With supporters of four of the six parties represented in the Bundestag, the former chancellor has well over 50 percent approval - with those of the FDP and AfD still 44 and 37 percent respectively.

On the other hand, the Sunday question on the Bundestag election for the Merz-Union has a success story: Compared to the previous month, it has increased by two points to 30 percent and is far ahead of all other parties. This is the best value for the CDU/CSU in the survey since March 2021.

All traffic light parties lose one point each: SPD and Greens are still tied with 18 percent each; the FDP would only just make it into parliament with five percent. It comes to the same value as the left, where nothing has changed compared to November. The AfD increases one point to 15 percent.

In the ranking of satisfaction with top politicians, not a single one has approval from more than half of the population. At the same time, many are more popular than in November. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) remains the most popular politician - 48 percent are "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with her. This is followed by Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens, 41 percent), Scholz (36), Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP, 33) and Merz (32).

With an increase of five points to 28 percent, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser experienced the greatest upswing, while her cabinet colleague Christine Lambrecht (both SPD) lost two points and dropped to 21 percent.

This puts the defense minister, who is currently under strong criticism, only ahead of Dietmar Bartsch (left) and Alice Weidel (AfD), each with 17 percent.

The pollsters also asked Germans about their attitude to climate protection. According to this, 82 percent of those surveyed consider the need for action to be “very large” or “large”. On the other hand, only a small minority of eleven percent identified “little” need for action – and four percent none at all.

Looking at party supporters, the need for action is urgent for 100 percent of Greens supporters; Values ​​between 82 and 89 percent are recorded among the supporters of the other parties in the Bundestag - with the exception of the AfD: 47 percent of their supporters declare that they need to stand up for climate protection.

While the corresponding political commitment is primarily associated with young people, when looking at the results by age group, it is striking that it is primarily the elders who assess the need for action as great. 85 percent of those surveyed aged 65 and over express themselves accordingly - the value in the age group 18 to 34 years is six points lower. In the age groups 35 to 49 years and 50 to 64 years it is about eight out of ten respondents.

However, several and sometimes radical forms of protest for climate protection meet with little acceptance among the population - the rejection outweighs the majority. Some respondents are most likely to understand the school truancy publicized by Fridays for Future: 30 percent consider it justified to go to climate protection demonstrations instead of attending classes. The temporary occupation of factories, industrial plants and offices is okay for 21 percent.

Road blockades, as practiced by the radical climate glue of the "last generation", are only considered appropriate by 14 percent. The response to disturbances and impairments of exhibitions and cultural events is similarly low (13 percent); in Germany, members of the “last generation” had stuck themselves to glass-protected paintings in various museums and soiled them with food.

In the debate about the new naturalization law, as Interior Minister Faeser is planning, the population is divided. 49 percent think it is the right direction and 45 percent the wrong one that foreigners can obtain German citizenship after three or five years instead of after eight if they meet the integration requirements.

For the representative Germany trend, Infratest Dimap surveyed 1,318 citizens entitled to vote in 862 telephone interviews and 456 online interviews from November 28th to 30th. The error tolerance is between two and three percentage points.

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