It was not a dream start for Friedrich Merz's government. Rather the opposite: a debacle. Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) failed to garner the necessary support in the Bundestag to be elected as Chancellor with the required absolute majority in the first round of voting on May 6. Too few MPs from his newly formed coalition of CDU/CSU and center-left Social Democrats (SPD) supported him. This had never happened before in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.

So there is no inkling of euphoria with the majority of respondents in the latest Deutschlandtrend from public broadcaster ARD. On May 5 and 6, pollster infratest dimap conducted a representative survey of 1,325 Germans eligible to vote.

Only four out of ten respondents are optimistic the coalition of conservatives and social democrats will do a good job. And that was before Tuesday's debacle in the Bundestag.

However, the latest events do not seem to have swayed voters. The CDU/CSU made a slight gain of one percentage point compared to April to stand at 27%, the SPD remains unchanged at 16%. The far-right Alternative for Germany(AfD) polls at 23%. The Greens and the socialist Left Party are roughly on a par, with 11% and 10% respectively.

Chancellor Merz must prove himself

Friedrich Merz has fulfilled his ambition: After a yearslong struggle, he has now become the tenth Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

But is he a good fit for this office? Fifty-nine percent of those polled said they don't think so. Only 32% said he's a good fit for the job. It is again the old and new Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius who received top marks, with 73% of respondents seeing the Social Democrat as a good choice for the post.

Why does Merz score so much lower? Presumably many voters have not forgiven him for breaking election promises to pave the way for taking out major loans and pushing a non-binding motion against irregular immigration through parliament with the votes of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The other parties represented in the Bundestag, as well as in the state parliaments, categorically rule out cooperation with the AfD. The AfD is not part of any government.

At the beginning of May, the AfD was classified nationwide as "confirmed right-wing extremist"by the domestic intelligence service. A clear majority of 67% of those surveyed in the Deutschlandtrend agree with this classification.

Nevertheless, many Germans share the AfD's political views.

A clear majority of AfD supporters say the issues taken up by the AfD are more important to them than whether the party can be classified as right-wing extremist. AfD supporters especially agree with the party's anti-immigration positions. 45% of all respondents to the survey said they share the AfD's view that the "influx of foreigners" (as the question put it) should be more strictly limited.

The domestic intelligence agency's recent statement has given fresh momentum to the debate over whether the AfD should be banned. Seeking such a ban was considered appropriate by 43% of respondents, with 47% against.

Germany's culture of remembrance

The AfD has often been accused of revisionism. In 2018, the then AfD party and parliamentary group leader Alexander Gauland literally said "Hitler and the Nazis are just a blip in over 1,000 years of successful German history."

The end ofWorld War II in 1945 is being commemorated on May 8, not only in Germany but in many other countries too.

The commemoration events have revived the discussion as to whether Germany should put a stop to debating the horrors of National Socialism. The AfD in particular has repeatedly called for this. In the ARD Deutschlandtrend, almost half of AfD party supporters say that the crimes of the Nazis are being remembered too much.

Respondents with other party preferences saw things differently: Only a small minority of between eight and 16 percent, said the chapter should be closed. 

This article was originally written in German.

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