STERN survey
Only 21 percent of Germans consider Christian Lindner to be trustworthy
A lot of self-confidence, but little trust among citizens: Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner on the government bench in mid-December 2023.
© dts news agency / Imago Images
The FDP leader and finance minister has no idea what really moves people. At least that’s how an overwhelming majority of Germans see it. The characteristics profile that Forsa determined shows how much Christian Lindner’s image has deteriorated.
That was close: A majority of 52.24 percent of FDP members voted for the party to remain in the traffic light coalition. But that’s where the party leader’s problems lie Christian Lindner not endured. Before the party’s traditional Epiphany meeting on January 6th, it is still unclear whether and how the measures agreed by the traffic light leaders to consolidate the budget will be implemented. The public dispute over agricultural diesel, sanctions for recipients of citizens’ benefit and compliance with the debt brake continues.
The image of FDPIn any case, boss Christian Lindner has suffered massively in the past few months. As a Forsa survey for the star showed that only 21 percent of Germans consider him to be trustworthy. This is a decrease of six percentage points compared to the low value from April 2023. These are crucial weeks for the finance minister.
Christian Lindner also had poor scores in other questions
In the property profile, which Forsa commissioned star regularly collected for top politicians, another value for Lindner is also very bad: just 20 percent of citizens have the impression that the finance minister “knows what moves people”. A decrease of four percentage points compared to April. Lindner loses the most when it comes to two hard criteria: Only 31 percent of Germans consider him to be a strong leader (minus 12 percentage points) and only 37 percent consider him competent (minus 10 percentage points). The FDP leader only achieved an absolute majority in one dimension: 51 percent think that he speaks comprehensibly (minus 8 percentage points). 33 percent find the politician likeable (minus 4 percentage points).
The Germans who would currently vote for the FDP rate Lindner somewhat more positively: 46 percent say he is close to the citizens. It is interesting to compare this with the larger group of those who voted for the Liberals in the last federal election. Of them, only 32 percent say that Lindner knows what motivates people.
The data was collected by the market and opinion research institute forsa for stern and RTL Deutschland on December 19 and 20, 2023. Database: 1006 respondents. Statistical margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points