Loss of confidence in politics: Chancellor Scholz wiped out in a survey

Created: 01/06/2022, 11:21 AM

By: Patrick Freiwah

Loss of confidence in the position of Federal Chancellor: Large parts of the population are skeptical of Olaf Scholz.

© Bernd Elmenthaler / Imago

The status of politicians seems to be declining: a survey shows that German citizens are increasingly doubting the decisions made by officials.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz is hit hard.

Berlin - The change of position has apparently brought a loss of confidence in the office of the Federal Chancellor.

According to a survey by the market and opinion research institute Forsa, the reputation of Olaf Scholz is significantly lower than that of his predecessor Angela Merkel.

While at the end of 2020 75 percent were still satisfied with the work of the retired, long-serving Chancellor, the poll value for the newly-raised Social Democrats is a whole 18 percentage points lower.

Accordingly, of 4038 respondents, only 57 percent stated that they had confidence in the new Federal Chancellor.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz is apparently less trustworthy than Angela Merkel

According to the published ranking, the decline in confidence in the office of Federal Chancellor in both East and West, as well as among men and women, is almost equally distributed - and can be registered by all groups of voters.

Does that have anything to do with the still unclear role of Olaf Scholz in the cum-ex affair?

The encouragement for the new federal government is also below the value of the previous one: at the turn of the year 2020/21, 63 percent had expressed their confidence in the representatives of the people in Berlin, a year later this value is only 56 percent. According to the survey, the most trustworthy by far is the office of Federal President, which will be voted on in February 2022. At 75 percent (previous year: 76), the position held by Frank-Walter Steinmeier appears to be the most respected in matters of integrity. This could also have something to do with the fact that it is a representative, non-governing post - incidentally the highest in German politics.

The governments of the individual federal states have also suffered a loss of confidence compared to the previous year.

A major part of this could be due to the corona restrictions, which have caused a lack of understanding among many people.

While the approval was 60 percent twelve months earlier, the Forsa survey currently shows a value of only 55 percent.

There are still striking differences in trust in state institutions between East and West Germany: 53 percent of West German citizens trust the Bundestag, but only 36 percent of East Germans.

Confidence in politics: Almost a third are satisfied with the course of the European Union

Questions were also asked about trust in the European Union - and there was no noticeable change here.

From the point of view of the regional association, however, the result is not positive: As in the previous year, only 38 percent of the citizens surveyed have the confidence that the EU Commission, headed by President Ursula von der Leyen, will make the right decisions for the people.

40 percent of West Germans trust the EU, but just 27 percent of East Germans.

The continental body is currently causing a stir with plans for renewable energies: The EU Commission wants to classify energy generation from natural gas and nuclear plants as climate-friendly.

It's about building new nuclear power plants.