Friday 23 July 2021
RTL / ntv trend barometer for the flood
The vast majority are in favor of more climate protection
Because of the flood disaster, the focus is again on climate policy. An RTL / ntv survey shows that more than half of Germans are in favor of stricter measures. An overwhelming majority believe that climate change is partly responsible for the recent floods.
Heavy rain, extreme weather, flood disaster – after the deadly and destructive floods in western Germany, there is a lot of talk about the causes. The RTL / ntv trend barometer shows that a very clear majority of Germans are in favor of more countermeasures in climate policy. The response to the crisis by the federal and state governments is rated mixed in the survey by the opinion research institute Forsa.
The majority of German citizens believe that the severe storms and floods last week, which affected several federal states, are also a result of climate change. A total of 80 percent share this view – and it runs through all sections of the population. Only a minority of 18 percent do not believe this. Only among AfD supporters does a majority do not believe in a connection.
For 56 percent of those surveyed, the issue of climate protection has become (even) more important in connection with the severe storms of the past week. This is not the case with 43 percent.
Around three quarters of German citizens believe that politicians should do more to protect the climate: 73 percent. Around a quarter (24 percent) think that the measures and plans to date are sufficient. There are differences in the various groups: in particular, those younger than 30 and supporters of the Greens and the Left Party are of the opinion that the issue of climate change has become more important. Most of the East Germans, middle-aged respondents between 30 and 59 years of age and supporters of the FDP and especially the AfD say the opposite.
Women, 30 to 44 year olds and supporters of the SPD and especially the Greens and the Left Party are of the opinion that more must be done for climate protection. Only AfD supporters do not believe this – they consider the current measures to be sufficient.
Split opinion on crisis response
With regard to the crisis management of the federal and state governments, opinions are divided: 47 percent of those surveyed consider it very good or good, 43 percent as rather bad or very bad. The supporters of the Union, the SPD and the Greens believe that politicians have so far coped well with the consequences of the floods in the affected regions. Crisis management is rated as bad by AfD supporters in particular.
It becomes clear that the majority of people did not have a warning app installed on their smartphone before the storms: 65 percent said they did. Only 27 percent had one of the apps installed. The introduction of cell broadcast should make a lot of sense, because 77 percent of people without a warning app do not want to install any of them in the future.
However, around half of German citizens assume that they will react more sensitively than before to weather warnings after the severe storms last week. Overall, 54 percent of those surveyed said this, but above average those from North Rhine-Westphalia and Central Germany – Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Saarland – as well as those over 60 and supporters of the Union, Greens and Left Party.
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