German newspaper Der Spiegel has reported on a poll that shows that just 23% of Germans would want Angela Merkel to return as Chancellor of the nation.
During Merkel’s 16 years as Chancellor it was difficult for many Germans to imagine anyone else leading the country. But since she left office a year ago, her reputation has declined in the eyes of many.
A survey carried out by the opinion research institute the Funke media group showed that 71% of those questioned said they would not want Merkel to be back in the office. This compared to the 23% who would.
Even when compared to the troubled chancellorship of her successor, Olaf Scholz, Merkel does not do particularly well. The survey showed that 43% of those asked said they think that Merkel would be a better head of government than Scholz, with 41% choosing the current Chancellor, and 16% undecided.
Since leaving office global events have caused many Germans to reassess the decisions made under the Merkel premiership. In particular, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine taking place just two months after her resignation, there has been a significant amount of reflection about how her premiership handled relations with Moscow. Criticisms have tended to focus on the decision by the Merkel government to make Germany reliant on Russian gas supplies and to support the construction of Nord Stream 2 and the sale of German gas storage facilities to Gazrpom.
The poll run by Civey spoke with 5,003 respondents, with a margin of error of 2.5%.
