Last updated: 16.01.2024, 11:01 a.m.
By: Christian Stör
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Can Sahra Wagenknecht also be chancellor? In any case, 17 percent would like the BSW politician in this role. © Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture alliance/dpa
Sahra Wagenknecht wants to get off to a flying start with her new party. The potential seems to be there. Would she also be a possible chancellor?
Berlin – Sahra Wagenknecht is currently shaking up German politics. It is still unclear where the path of her new party will lead. But at least this much is certain: according to polls, the "Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance" (BSW) has so much potential that double-digit results in the coming elections seem possible from a standing start.
A new poll now shows that 17 percent of people in Germany can imagine Sahra Wagenknecht as Chancellor. This was determined by the opinion research institute YouGov for the German Press Agency. A clear majority of 64 percent of respondents, on the other hand, do not want to see Wagenknecht at the head of a government. The other respondents did not provide any information or did not commit themselves.
These are the answers to the question: "In the event that a party newly founded by Sahra Wagenknecht were to stand for the Bundestag elections: Would you like Sahra Wagenknecht to become Chancellor?"
| Answer | Figures in percent |
|---|---|
| Yes | 17 |
| No | 64 |
| Not specified | 19 |
Survey on Sahra Wagenknecht: Conceivable as Chancellor or Minister?
Wagenknecht would have more support as a minister: 36 percent of those surveyed were in favor of the new party with Wagenknecht as minister in the federal government, of which 13 percent "completely" and 23 percent "rather". 47 percent "rather" or "completely" disagreed. The attitude of those who support the Left Party is remarkable. Of these, 45 percent wanted Wagenknecht as chancellor, and a whopping 69 percent were in favor of a government participation with a minister Wagenknecht.
It is unclear to what extent the unpopularity of the ruling traffic light coalition contributes to these results. For example, the satisfaction ratings for the federal government in the current ZDF political barometer have reached their lowest point to date. According to the survey, 69 percent of those surveyed thought that the traffic light does a rather poor job. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also received a bad report: only 28 percent were satisfied with his work. In the assessment of politicians according to sympathy and performance ("What do you think of?"), Wagenknecht was even ahead of Scholz in the ZDF political barometer. On the scale of +5 to -5, Wagenknecht stood at minus 0.9. At first glance, this doesn't look very convincing. But things look even worse for Olaf Scholz. The Chancellor has recently reached a personal low of minus 1.2 there.
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Question about a Wagenknecht request: Resuming gas and oil imports from Russia?
The YouGov survey also asked about one of Wagenknecht's important concerns: the resumption of energy imports from Russia. The question was: "After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the German government stopped imports of oil from Russia. Due to a dispute over economic sanctions with Russia, Germany is also no longer receiving pipeline gas from Russia. In your opinion, should the German government make an effort to resume these gas and oil imports from Russia in order to lower energy prices in Germany, or should it not do so?" Thirty-two percent of respondents said the German government should make an effort to resume gas and oil imports from Russia. 32 percent were against it, 53 percent did not provide any information or said they did not know.
The BSW was formed as a party on 8 January. Wagenknecht has announced that he will have a more detailed party program drawn up by the next federal election, which is scheduled for autumn 2025. The BSW wants to run in the European elections in June and in the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September (cs/dpa)
Note: YouGov surveyed a total of 3 people between 8 and 2024 January 2007. The margin of error for the overall sample of 2007 respondents is plus/minus 50.2 percentage points for a 19 percent share and plus/minus 5.0 percentage points for a 95 percent share value.