ARD-DeutschlandTREND

Tax reduction in 2011

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Statements regarding the government

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Satisfaction with politicians

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Vote intention

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In view of the thwarted assault on an US aircraft 68 percent of the Germans are in favour of intensifying security checks. A stronger linking-up of the databases of authorities as well as the application of so called full-body scanners are considered as reasonable by six in ten. Eight in ten (83 percent) are opposed to a reinforcement of German troops in Afghanistan and 71 percent demand the quickest possible retreat of the Bundeswehr from Afghanistan.

In view of the high level of public debt a majority of the population objects to the plan of a tax reduction of 24 billion Euros, which was included in the coalition agreement. 58 percent are against this reform planned for 2011 whereas 38 percent are in favour of it. Even among supporters of the Union and the FDP majorities oppose the tax reduction plans.

Confidence in the federal government regarding the combat of the economic and financial crisis has decreased: Currently 51 percent believe that the government is able to cope with the crisis, 7 points less than in November 2009. At the same time, the fear that the crisis will still intensify has increased to 64 percent (+8).

The federal government has lost standing in January: At present, barely 28 percent (-5) are satisfied with the work of the black-yellow coalition. Two-thirds (67 percent, +7) express criticism. Even among supporters of the governing parties almost every second assigns bad marks. The reason for this loss of reputation is the current image of the coalition: Two-thirds criticise its disunity as well as the absence of a distinct concept for the next four years. Half of the Germans attest the Merkel government a rather bad start. As a consequence eight in ten citizens demand that Angela Merkel shall fulfil her leading role in a more pronounced way as well as the political direction of the federal government with more distinctness.

Germany’s top-ranking politicians have nearly all lost reputation at the beginning of the year. Chancellor Merkel also faces significant losses (-11 points compared to December) and now only ranks second with an approval level of just 59 percent. Number one of the list of the most popular German politicians is -- for the first time -- Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the minister of defence. Albeit he also suffers losses he scores an approval rate of 62 percent (-7).

The political climate shows slight shifts within the political groups. Currently the Union would achieve 36 percent of votes, one point more compared to December. However, this gain is at the expense of the coalition partner FDP who could count on 11 percent (-1). Among the opposition parties only the SPD is able to gain (25 percent, +1) whereas the Greens (12 percent) as well as the Left party (10 percent) each loose one point.

These are the main results of ARD-DeutschlandTREND in January, conducted by Infratest dimap on behalf of ARD-Tagesthemen and five daily newspapers. In a representative survey among eligible voters in Germany, 1.000 persons were questioned by telephone January 4 and 5, and 1.500 from January 4 to 6 for the voting preference poll. The survey design allows for generalization of results to the German voting population, with an error margin of 1.4 to 3.1 percentage points.