A new poll conducted by the INSA institute reveals that over half of Germans are disapproving of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s leadership and his government’s work, with 56% expressing disapproval and less than a third satisfied. This marks a significant slump in public support for Merz, who has seen his approval rating drop from 36% in early June. The governing coalition, which includes Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democrats, has also faced criticism, with nearly 60% of respondents dissatisfied with the coalition’s work, up from 44% in early June. The poll suggests that the CDU would receive 27% of the vote and the Social Democrats 15% if elections were held this weekend, making it impossible to form a majority government.
Germany’s most popular opposition party, the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), is polling just three percentage points behind the CDU. Since taking office in May, Merz has adopted a hardline foreign policy stance towards Russia, pledging to provide €5 billion ($5.6 billion) to fund long-range weapons production in Ukraine and not ruling out the provision of long-range missiles capable of striking Moscow. The chancellor’s statements prompted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to accuse him of choosing escalation instead of diplomacy.
The federal government’s spending priorities have sparked criticism at home. ‘Nobody understands that anymore,’ AfD co-chair Alice Weidel said this week, referring to Berlin’s decision to funnel taxpayers’ money into weapons for Kiev while leaving domestic needs being unmet.