A large majority of Germans say they are “concerned” about the state of the government and see no political options for improvement, yet paradoxically, a plurality says they don’t want the present political settlement, in which the country’s highest-polling party remains locked out of government, to change.
A considerable 84 per cent of Germans say they feel “great or very great” concern about the political “state of affairs” in their country, polling finds, as faith in the government’s ability to find the right answers continues to collapse.
That the answer to Germany’s problems requires more than just a new government was underlined by further findings in the INSA poll, reported by Die Welt, that another large majority, 64 per cent, said they couldn’t see any potential combination of parties forming a new government that could turn things around.
Emphasising that worries about the direction of the country are widespread, just 11 per cent felt only “slight concern” about the national state of affairs.
Separate research by the same pollster in recent weeks suggests this concern about the way politics is being conducted is driving German voters towards anti-establishment parties, such as the right-wing sovereigntist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which advocates tax reform and severely curbing mass migration. The latest INSA polling, which asked who respondents would vote for if there were a federal election this coming weekend, found the AfD the most popular party at 29 per cent, up one per cent in a week.
In second place are the centre-right globalist Christian Democrats on 22 per cent, putting over half the political support in the country behind right-wing parties of varying flavours, which could, at first glance, signal a potential future government. Yet Germany’s mainstream politics runs a so-called firewall against the AfD, a system enforced by social shame and political expedience that forbids all cooperation with the pro-change party.
So, a right-wing coalition government remains impossible, and the INSA polling suggests that, somewhat paradoxically, despite public exhaustion with politics and the recognition that the status quo isn’t working, they want to keep it that way. A plurality of 47 per cent say they want the ‘firewall’ to remain in place, with 41 per cent saying it should go.
Remarkably, the strongest supporters of the firewall are among those who could theoretically benefit most from it, with Christian Democrat voters backing the cordon sanitaire at 67 per cent. Like other European countries where the centre-right globalist and right-wing nationalist parties do not get along, the desire to freeze out the rival may be as much about avoiding social stigma from being associated with what have been labelled the “far right” as about any political consideration.
The INSA poll follows other recent research. As reported earlier this month, 78 per cent of Germans think the Friedrich Merz government has failed to solve the migration problem, and his personal approval rating is plummeting, making Merz one of the least-loved leaders of a major European country.