Poll: Majority of Germans Believe Chancellor Merz Failed in His Mission

Berlin, Oct 7 (KUNA) -- Results of a poll released on Wednesday showed that a majority of Germans believe Chancellor Friedrich Merz has failed in his mission as head of the German government. According to the Ipsos survey commissioned by Der Spiegel magazine, 48 percent of respondents fully agreed that Merz’s tenure as chancellor had failed, while 19 percent considered it partially true. The poll revealed a clear decline in Merz’s popularity in the eastern German states, where 80 percent said his chancellorship had failed completely or partially, compared with 64 percent in the western states. The survey also highlighted uncertainty about who might succeed Merz as head of government if he resigns or is forced to step down: 41 percent said they did not favor any of the names circulating in the media, and 14 percent said they did not know who the appropriate candidate was. Markus Söder, head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), Merz’s partner party in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), topped the list of potential successors with 20 percent, followed by Hendrik Wüst, minister-president of North Rhine-Westphalia, with 16 percent, while Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt received only 5 percent. Chancellor Merz is suffering from declining popularity among voters, owing to his failure to pull Germany out of its economic crisis and to widespread dissatisfaction with his government’s reforms, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has seen a significant surge in popularity at the expense of Merz’s conservative CDU. (End)