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A majority of Germans want Chancellor Friedrich Merz to resign, according to a survey released on Wednesday, as his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered a series of poor results in regional elections.
The poll, conducted for private broadcasters RTL and n-tv, found that 55% of respondents wanted Merz to leave office, while 40% said he should remain chancellor, according to the survey results.
Support for his resignation was higher in eastern Germany, where it reached 68%, compared with 53% in the western part of the country. Even among supporters of the CDU/CSU alliance, 21% said Merz should step down.
Merz approval falls to record low
Merz’s popularity has reached a historic low, according to the Forsa trend barometer published this week. Only 11% of respondents said they were satisfied with his performance as chancellor, while 87% expressed dissatisfaction.
Voters’ rejection of Merz may also have influenced the latest state elections. The CDU lost its representation in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliament, while its support in Saxony-Anhalt fell to just above 17%.
In Berlin, the party suffered a clear defeat to The Left. The CDU is currently polling at just 20%, according to the latest survey.
Voters cite broken promises and lack of attention to daily concerns
The survey also examined the reasons behind the decline in support for the CDU and CSU. Some 66% of respondents held Merz personally responsible for the parties’ election losses.
However, 81% identified what they considered a more important issue: the belief that the CDU no longer focuses on people’s everyday concerns. The party leader was also described as out of touch and insufficiently empathetic towards voters’ problems.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents, or 64%, cited the government’s decision to break an election campaign promise not to take on new debt as another reason for the parties’ losses. In addition, 57% said government policy was not socially balanced.
