Merz approval plunges to record low

German politics is the story here, but the real issue is simpler: voters think the government is not delivering. One year into Friedrich Merz’s chancellorship, his personal ratings have fallen to the worst level recorded for a postwar German chancellor, and the coalition he leads is doing even worse. That turns an ugly poll into something bigger — a test of whether Germany’s mainstream can still look competent while the far right keeps gaining ground. The timing is rough, because this was supposed to be the stretch when Merz started proving he could steady Europe’s biggest economy. ### What actually dropped? The new Forsa numbers are the headline. Merz is down to 13% satisfaction, with 85% dissatisfied. His CDU/CSU-SPD coalition sits at 11% satisfaction, with 87% dissatisfied. That is not normal midterm grumbling — it is collapse-level frustration, and Bloomberg, DW, and RTL/n-tv all frame it as a record low or near-record low moment for his government and for Merz personally. ### Why are voters so angry? The short version is prices, growth, and drift. Germans do not think the government has gotten inflation under control or restarted the economy in a convincing way. One of the more telling details is that even people who voted for the coalition parties are unhappy — reported dissatisfaction reached 73% among CDU/CSU voters and 84% among SPD voters in coverage of the same Forsa poll. When your own side is this sour, the problem is not just messaging. (bloomberg.com) ### Didn’t Merz campaign on something else? Yes — and that is part of the trap. Merz sold himself as the person who could restore order on migration, revive the economy, and make Germany feel governable again. But one criticism now coming from pollsters and commentators is that he leaned too hard into migration politics while everyday economic anxiety kept dominating how voters judged the government. Basically, he fought on the issue that energized the debate, but people graded him on the issue that hits their wallet. (aa.com.tr) ### Why does the coalition look even weaker than Merz? Coalitions in Germany always involve compromise, but this one looks stuck in public. Merz governs with the SPD, and that partnership has been marked by visible tension, poor election results for the junior partner, and the usual blame-trading that makes every disagreement look like paralysis. The catch is that voters often punish the whole arrangement, not just one leader. So even if Merz still has room to recover personally, the coalition brand is already badly damaged. (aa.com.tr) ### Where does AfD fit in? This is why the numbers matter beyond Berlin gossip. AfD has been running strongly in recent polling, and some reports now place it ahead of Merz’s conservative bloc nationally. When mainstream governments look ineffective, protest parties do not need to prove they can govern — they just need to look less stale than the people in charge. That is the opening AfD is trying to widen. (politico.com) ### Is this just a bad poll week? Probably not. The new Forsa survey lands after earlier spring polling already showed support sliding sharply. An ARD DeutschlandTrend poll in April had government satisfaction at just 15%, down nine points from early March, and Merz’s own approval had already weakened there too. So this is not one rogue snapshot — it looks more like a continuing downward line. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) ### What would recovery even look like? Merz does not need to become loved overnight. He needs to make the government look functional. In practice that means fewer coalition brawls, clearer economic wins, and some sign that everyday pressure on households is easing. Foreign-policy energy can help his image at the margins, but German voters are sending a blunt message: stop performing leadership and start producing results. (politico.eu) ### Bottom line This is less about one bad approval number than about a broken promise of competence. Merz was supposed to stabilize the center. Right now, the center looks shaky, and Germany’s voters are saying so in the harshest possible way. (economist.com)