Pistorius stays victorious; Söder outpaces Merz.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz finds himself at the 10th spot in the ranking list, while he's two spots ahead of Friedrich Merz. Three Union politicians are ahead of Merz, the CDU chairman. In the lead is a fellow from the Social Democratic party.
Germany's Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, retains his position as the most trusted politician according to the recent survey by the pollster Forsa. Pistorius' trust level has remained unchanged since the last ranking.
Union politicians occupy the second to fourth spots: Hendrik Wüst from North Rhine-Westphalia, Daniel Günther from Schleswig-Holstein, and Markus Söder from Bavaria.
Forsa's survey measures the level of trust Germans have in each politician with scores from 0 to 100 ("Is not in good hands at all" to "Is completely and entirely in good hands"). Pistorius, for example, received a trust score of 57 points.
Klingbeil on place 7, losing ground
The next Social Democrat, Lars Klingbeil, is placed 7th. This is a drop from his previous position. The Green Agriculture Minister, Cem Özdemir, and the FDP's candidate for European elections, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, are the frontrunners for their respective parties.
Scholz places 10th, gaining two points, and now sits two spots higher than Merz. This is intriguing, seeing Merz being touted as a probable candidate for the Union's chancellorship.
Sahra Wagenknecht from her party of the same name comes in 17th, ahead of Left Party leader Janine Wissler. The final two spots go to the AfD chairpersons, Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla.
Different story for Union supporters
Among supporters of their own parties, the landscape shifts a bit. Pistorius still leads among SPD supporters, followed by Scholz in second place. Economic Minister Robert Habeck holds the lead among Green supporters, as well as in the overall ranking.
Union party supporters place CSU leader Söder above all others. Merz barely manages to secure the fourth spot behind Söder, Wüst, and Günther.
Supporters of AfD and BSW have less faith in most politicians compared to supporters of other parties. Pistorius scores 40 points among BSW supporters and 29 points among AfD supporters, while Weidel achieves a mere 13 points overall. Among AfD and BSW supporters, she receives 71 and 23 points, respectively.
The research for the politician ranking was done by market and opinion research institute Forsa on behalf of RTL Germany between June 3rd to 5th, 2024. Sample: 1507 respondents. The margin of error tolerance is around +/- 3 percentage points.
More details about Forsa here. Forsa conducts surveys for RTL Germany.
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Cem Özdemir, the Green Agriculture Minister, is considered the frontrunner for his party in the recent surveys. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the FDP's candidate for European elections, also leads in trust levels for her party. Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor, manages to gain two spots and move higher in the ranking list, now sitting two spots ahead of Friedrich Merz. Germany's Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, maintains his position as the most trusted politician following the latest survey by Forsa. Markus Söder, leader of the Union in Bavaria, occupies the second spot in the survey, while Hendrik Wüst from North Rhine-Westphalia and Daniel Günther from Schleswig-Holstein follow closely behind. Robert Habeck, the Green's Economic Minister and overall ranking leader, holds the lead among Green party supporters. The Union party supporters place CSU leader Markus Söder above all others, with Merz barely managing to secure the fourth spot. Among SPD supporters, Pistorius remains the most trusted politician, followed by Scholz in second place. The survey conducted by Forsa on behalf of RTL Germany found that Boris Pistorius scored 57 points of trust from the respondents, setting him as the most trusted politician in Germany.
