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Chancellor Scholz on the flight to Washington: disappointed expectations
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
“Anyone who orders leadership from me will get it.” Olaf Scholz used this mantra again and again in the course of his political career – most recently in the federal election campaign from which he emerged as chancellor.
And in fact, many people believed the Social Democrats would be able to live up to this claim.
In the meantime, however, after only a few weeks in office, the population's belief in Scholz's chancellor skills is waning.
This is shown by surveys by the opinion research institute Civey for SPIEGEL.
According to this, Scholz has lost a lot of approval for almost all of the properties surveyed compared to the month of the election.
And only about a fifth of Germans are of the opinion that the SPD politician has done a good job as chancellor so far.
More than 60 percent take the opposite view.
Read the background to the Civey methodology here.
In December, when Scholz took office, the image that people had of him was still mostly positive.
In the days after the chancellor election, 49 percent expressed the expectation that he would be a good chancellor, while around a third tended to reject him.
A similarly negative development can be observed in the assessment of the head of government's political style.
In polls before the federal election, for example, 38 percent answered that Scholz's political style was characterized by specialist knowledge.
After all, 28 percent thought he was a strong leader, only slightly fewer appreciated the Social Democrats for his clear positioning.
At the time, Scholz performed significantly better on these questions than his competitors for the chancellorship.
However, many people now seem disappointed by Scholz's chancellor performance.
Only around 20 percent appreciate his professional competence, while only 11 and 8 percent want to recognize clear positions and leadership strength.
The proportion of those who do not attribute any of the above qualities to the chancellor, on the other hand, has risen significantly: from around 40 to over 60 percent.
Scholz is on an inaugural visit to US President Joe Biden in Washington this Monday to demonstrate, among other things, unity in the transatlantic relationship.
Some allies have accused the SPD politician of not putting enough pressure on Russia in the Ukraine crisis.
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