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Politics

Majority of Germans think Merkel should stay

March 14, 2019

A new ARD Deutschlandtrend poll shows most voters feel Merkel's party has been successful in pushing its agenda. A majority also say Germany should use its budget surplus to invest in the future.

https://p.dw.com/p/3F5TM
Angela Merkel
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch

After a year of the grand coalition government with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), a large majority of Germans think the chancellor should serve out her term, which ends in 2021, according to the latest monthly ARD Deutschlandtrend poll.

March 2019 Deutschland Trend bar graph on whether Germans think Angela Merkel should step down before the end of her term

Although the government received mixed reviews overall, the majority of German voters agreed that Merkel's CDU/CSU had been more successful than its SPD partners in advancing its agenda.

March 2019 Deutschland Trend bar graph on which governing party Germans think is most effectively pushing its agenda

A large majority of voters were also of the opinion that Germany should spend its €11.2 billion ($12.8 billion) budget surplus on investing in the future. A large number thought money should be spent on financial relief for citizens. Very few thought it should be used to pay down the €1.93 trillion ($2.2 trillion) debt.

March 2019 Deutschland Trend pie graph on how Germans think the budget surplus should be spent

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