The latest Deutschlandtrend survey shows that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s popularity has been declining steadily since April. His approval dropped to its lowest point yet after he broke his election promise to implement a debt brake.
Nationwide, only 27% of respondents said they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with Merz’s performance, while 69% expressed dissatisfaction. Compared with the September poll, the chancellor lost 6 percentage points, bringing his approval rating down to its lowest level since April 2025, when just 25% approved of his policies.
Public opinion toward the federal government is equally negative. According to the survey, 77% of respondents said they were “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the red-black coalition.
The poll also found that support for the CDU/CSU fell to 24% nationally. For the first time, the bloc trails the AfD by three percentage points—marking the largest gap ever recorded in a national survey.
