Survey: 4 out of 10 Germans worried about political future
January 8, 2025
A new survey has found that many Germans have lost faith in their political leaders. The ruling SPD was seen as having "trust" and "competence" issues.
The survey found that many are unhappy with the governing coalition's handling of the economyImage: Frederic Kern/Future Image/IMAGO
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A survey published Wednesday has found that four out of 10 voters in Germany are worried about the country's political future.
With less than seven weeks to go before the February 23 federal election, 39% of respondents told YouGov pollsters that they were concerned, and 15% said they were frustrated with political leaders.
The governing center-left Social Democrats (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz have "trust and competence problems," the study found, with 50% of those polled saying that they do not want the SPD to be part of the next government. About 46% of people said that the SPD was responsible for Germany's current economic woes, and a mere 11% said they felt the party was competent to handle the economy.
The survey also showed that even past SPD voters had lost faith, with only 55% of those who chose the center-left in 2021 still feeling like the party cared about them.
Conservatives have clear lead
As in other polls, the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the CSU, were clearly in the lead less than two months out from the election.
Some 29% of respondents said they would be voting CDU/CSU, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 21%.
The SPD, on the other hand, is looking at a historic low of 16%, while their coalition partners the Greens were coming in fourth with 14%.
As for the Free Democrats (FDP), the pro-business party that withdrew from the coalition in November and triggered the collapse of government that led to the early elections, they were hovering around the 5% hurdle necessary to enter the Bundestag.
The YouGov survey recorded the opinions of 1,908 voters in early January.
Germany's colorful coalition shorthand
Foreign flags and even traffic lights are used to describe the various coalitions that emerge in German elections. Coalitions are common under Germany's proportional representation system.
Image: Getty Images
Black-red coalition
The Conservatives black combined with the traditional red of the political left is the color code when the Christian Democrats govern in a "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats. This combination of Germany's two "big tent" parties, was in power first from 1966-69 and most recently for eight years until 2021, led by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Image: picture-alliance/R. Goldmann
'Traffic light' coalition — Red, Yellow, Green
From 2021-2025 Germany was governed by a center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), ecologist Greens, and free-market-oriented neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), whose color is yellow. The government known as "Ampel" (traffic light) in Germany, started out as a self-declared "Fortschrittskoalition" (progress coalition) but got mired in infighting and became the least popular government ever.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J.Büttner
Black and Green
The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has teamed up with the ecologist Greens in several German states cooperating smoothly at the regional level. In Baden-Württemberg, the Greens' only Premier Winfried Kretschmann forged a Green-Black government in 2016, and CDU Premiers Hendrik Wüst has headed a Black-Green government in the most populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia since 2022.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
'Jamaica' option — black, yellow and green
A three-way deal between the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats FDP), did not come about at national level in 2017 after the FDP called off talks. It has been tested at a state level, where Schleswig-Holstein had a "Jamaica" government under Premier Daniel Günther until he opted for Black-Green after elections in 2022.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/dpaweb
Black, Red, Green — like Kenya's flag
The eastern German state of Saxony was governed by a coalition of CDU, SPD and Greens until 2024, headed by the state's popular Premier Michael Kretschmer. This unusual coalition was forged in the face of the rise of the right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) but failed to get a new mandated when the Greens failed to cross the hurdle of 5% to get back into parliament in 2024.
Image: Fotolia/aaastocks
The Germany coalition — Black, Red and Yellow
The eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt has been governed by a coalition led by the CDU's popular Premier Rainer Haseloff since 2021. He has teamed up with the SPD and the FDP. The alliance of unlikely bedfellows was the only viable option to ward off the threat by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Image: Hoffmann/Caro/picture alliance
Black and Orange
Since 2018 Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) has been governing with the Free Voters (FV), whose color is Orange. The FV is a grass-roots populist and far-right-leaning party and is led by its controversial chairman Hubert Aiwanger. Strong in rural areas of southern and eastern Germany, the Freie Wähler is seeking a larger role at the national level and currently has three MEPs.
Image: Privat
Blackberry coalition
In graphics showing opinion polls, the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is shown in violet. That may be fitting, as it combines socialist, far-left (red) with populist right wing (blue) ideas in its platform. Although the party was only founded in 2024, it is doing so well in the eastern German states that it may well be asked to join coalition governments. Possibly led by the CDU (Black).
Image: Oliver Berg/dpa/picture alliance
Blackberry Coalition
CDU (black), SPD (red) and BSW (violet). The new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance's (BSW) color violet, seems fitting as it combines socialist, far-left (red) with populist right wing (blue) ideas in its platform. Although the party was only founded in 2024, it did so well in the eastern German states that it entered a coalition government with the SPD and CDU in the state of Thuringia.
