35 percent satisfied with Chancellor
Scholz’ cabinet gets bad grades
09/13/2022, 2:06 p.m
The list of challenges is long: inflation, war in Ukraine, climate change give the government a lot to do. However, satisfaction with the chancellor and his current most important ministers is mixed among voters.
The looming energy crisis in winter, the rising prices for gas, electricity and other goods unsettle many Germans. So how satisfied are they with the federal government having to deal with these issues? According to the RTL and ntv trend barometer, the testimonial for Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his most important ministers is mixed.
35 percent of Germans are currently satisfied or very satisfied with the head of government from the SPD. On the other hand, 62 percent are less or not at all satisfied with their work. For comparison: At the beginning of July, Scholz had achieved ten points more satisfaction. There is little difference in approval of his policies in western Germany (36 percent) and eastern Germany (30 percent). Only the supporters of his own party (71 percent) are mostly satisfied with Scholz’s work. Among the voters of the coalition partners, 48 percent (Greens) and 39 percent (FDP) are satisfied with the Chancellor’s work.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock from the Greens is in a better position. Satisfaction (47 percent) and dissatisfaction (48) balance each other out. However, only 28 percent of the people in East Germany agree with their policy, and 68 percent are dissatisfied with it. In western Germany, on the other hand, satisfaction prevails (51 percent). Of the Greens supporters, 86 percent agree with Baerbock’s policy, this also applies to a majority of SPD voters (65 percent), with the coalition partner FDP it is still 48 percent (with 47 percent rejection).
Like his Greens colleague, Economics Minister Robert Habeck has recently lost approval. 40 percent are currently satisfied with his work, 55 percent are not. In May, 59 percent still agreed with his policies, while 32 percent were dissatisfied. Similar to Baerbock, Habeck receives more support in western Germany (42 percent satisfaction) than in eastern Germany (27 percent). Satisfaction among Greens supporters is 76 percent, among SPD (60) and FDP (38) voters it is sometimes significantly less.
Lambrecht finds little encouragement
The voters did not give good marks to Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Just a third is satisfied with the work of the FDP boss, 62 percent are not. The approval is almost the same in East (34 percent) and West (33 percent). In addition to supporters of his own party (68), Union voters (47) are more satisfied with the minister’s line than the Greens (29) and SPD (36) camps.
Only Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht is even more dissatisfied. Only 22 percent agree with the SPD politician, 64 percent reject her course. Lambrecht reached a low in eastern Germany (13), but approval is also low in western Germany (23). Not even the majority of the SPD’s own supporters are satisfied: Only 37 percent express their opinion accordingly, 49 percent do not agree with their policy. Satisfaction is also very low among the Greens (29 percent agreement) and FDP (25 percent).
The data was collected by the market and opinion research institute Forsa on behalf of RTL Germany on September 9th and 12th, 2022. Database: 1002 respondents. Statistical error tolerance: +/- 3 percentage points.
More information about Forsa here
Forsa surveys commissioned by RTL Germany