Star poll
Clap for the Chancellor: Only one in ten considers him to be a strong leader
Competence has long been considered Olaf Scholz’s main strength (here at the World Climate Conference in Dubai). But a new survey now shows that his reputation among Germans has suffered badly.
© Frank Ossenbrink / Imago Images
Olaf Scholz sees himself as a professional in the art of government. Many Germans shared this image for a long time. But since the Constitutional Court’s debt ruling, the Chancellor’s image has been in ruins.
Olaf Scholz’s reputation has deteriorated dramatically over the past six months. Forsa asks for him star regularly provides a profile of the Chancellor’s characteristics. The latest result: the values have never been so disastrous. Just ten percent of Germans still consider the head of government to be a strong leader. This is a decrease of 13 percentage points compared to May 2023 and even a decrease of 22 percentage points compared to May 2022. Particularly alarming for the SPD, which is already in the polls low: only 21 percent of the party’s remaining voters believe that the head of government is a strong leader.
The decline in the question of competence is dramatic: in May 2022, 61 percent of Germans attributed this quality to Scholz, in May 2023 it was 46 percent and currently just 31 percent of Germans consider the Chancellor to be competent. So in a year and a half the value has halved. Apparently, since the current budget crisis, the head of government has lost the professional aura that helped him win the election in 2021. It is fitting that of the voters who have since turned away from the SPD, only 36 percent still consider Scholz to be competent. Of the remaining supporters it is still 62 percent.
In the four other categories of the characteristic profile, the Chancellor also loses significantly compared to May of this year: Only 25 percent say that Scholz knows what motivates people – a minus of ten percentage points. Just 32 percent still think he is trustworthy – a decrease of 12 percentage points. Even with the softer criteria, Scholz no longer manages to convince at least half of Germans: only 41 percent find him likeable (minus 5 percentage points); only 42 percent say that he speaks clearly (minus 9 percentage points).
The leaders of the traffic light coalition are currently looking for a way out of the budget crisis. But given Scholz’s poor poll numbers, it is hard to imagine how he can win back voters and run a successful election campaign for the chancellorship with a new financial package.
The data was collected by the market and opinion research institute forsa for RTL Group Germany on November 30 and December 1, 2023. Database: 1007 respondents. Statistical margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points.