Nearly two in three Germans want a new government

Germany would benefit from a change in government, according to 64% of Germans who responded to a new poll as the country’s three-way coalition kicked off the second semester with a new round of infighting.

Polling institute INSA interviewed respondents on Thursday and Friday, with the institute linking the poll results to the most recent government row: on Wednesday, Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens/EFA) had temporarily vetoed an economic stimulus package – a flagship project of the liberal FDP – over uncertain funding for a new social security benefit.

There were “signs of a twilight of the chancellor”, Hermann Binkert, head of INSA, the polling institute behind the survey, told Bild am Sonntag.

While 64% of the poll’s respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s track record, some 70% said they were unhappy with the performance of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

After coalition parties gradually plummeted in the polls before the summer break after weeks of infighting about a proposed ban on new gas-based heating systems, they now no longer have a majority in the polls and are even trailing behind the far-right AfD which is now the second-most popular party behind the CDU.

However, according to the Greens, the recent disagreement is no real obstacle.

“There is no blockade. There are just a few details to settle,” Omid Nouripour, co-leader of the party, told Bild, arguing that the planned growth package and the new benefits regime would soon go ahead as planned.

However, their coalition partners appeared exasperated at the setback.

SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil said on Friday that he was “stunned that we are immediately continuing with the power struggle”, noting that he had hoped that all government members would have understood the current need for stability.

However, Germans appear unconvinced that the opposition could take over the reins.

Despite a downward trend, Scholz remains the second-most popular politician in the latest Politbarometer poll, far ahead of Friedrich Merz and Markus Söder, his potential contenders from the centre-right CDU/CSU. Only 27% of respondents expect a more satisfactory performance from a government headed by the two parties.

(Nick Alipour | EURACTIV.de)