Most Germans Want Merkel to Complete Her Term till End-2021, Poll Shows
Merkel’s fourth Cabinet has received mixed reviews for its performance so far.
A majority of the people in Germany prefer Chancellor Angela Merkel to complete her fourth and last term, which runs until the end of 2021, rather than resign, a public opinion poll has found.
Merkel’s fourth term as head of the German government is in a grand coalition of her conservative CDU party (and its Bavarian sister party CSU) with the leftist Social Democratic Party SPD.
In September 2018, Merkel announced that the current term would be her last as Chancellor of Germany, and that she was not seeking reelection as leader of the CDU.
Thus, the CDU party conference in December chose Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK), her close aide, as her successor as party leader.
Kramp-Karrenbauer recently attracted greatet global attention with her vision for the EU published in response to that of French President Emmanuel Macron.
There have been speculations that Merkel might resign as Chancellor before the end of her term at the end of 2021, hoping to open the way for AKK to become her successor in Germany’s top government post as well.
Most German voters, however, would rather see Merkel complete her last term, a new ARD Deutschlandtrend poll has found, as cited by DW.
More than 50% of all mainstream parliamentary parties in Germany – the CDU/CSU, the SPD, the Greens, the Left Party, and the centrist FDP – prefer to see Merkel serve her full term.
The only major political force in Germany, whose voters wish to see Merkel go ahead of schedule, are the voters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) (79% to 19%).
Expectedly, the supporters of the CDU/CSU have the largest share of voters wishing to see the Chancellor complete her last term (74% to 24%).
Most German voters also believe that the conservative CDU/CSU have better managed to push their agenda through during the first year of the Fourth Merkel Cabinet compared with the Socialists from the SPD, the junior partner in the ruling right-left coalition. The performance of the Cabinet itself so far has received mostly mixed reviews.
A large plurality of the German voters – 49% – believe that Germany should spend its budget surplus amounting to EUR 11.2 billion (USD 12.8 billion) on investing in the future.
A total of 36% think the money should be spent on financial relief for citizens, and 14% – to pay down the government debt of EUR 1.93 trillion (USD 2.2 trillion).
(Banner image: Angela Merkel on Twitter)
