Survey: majority against easing the debt brake
Following the Karlsruhe budget ruling, the majority of the population wants to retain the debt brake in its current form, according to a survey. According to a representative survey conducted by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen for the ZDF "Politbarometer", which was published on Friday, 61% of respondents were against relaxing the debt brake. According to the survey, 35 percent wanted to relax the debt brake, while 4 percent answered "don't know".
While the majority of supporters of the Greens (67%), the Left (58%) and the SPD (55%) are in favor of relaxing the debt brake, only minorities of supporters of the FDP (31%), the CDU/CSU (20%) and the AfD (14%) see it that way.
According to the survey, the majority of respondents want to fill the gaps in the federal budget mainly through spending cuts. This was stated by 57%. Eleven percent advocate tax increases and 23 percent want the state to take on additional debt.
The Federal Constitutional Court had declared a reallocation of 60 billion euros in the federal budget for a climate and transformation fund null and void. The traffic light coalition in the federal government then announced that it would suspend the debt brake for 2023.
According to the survey, if federal elections were held next Sunday, the CDU/CSU would emerge as the strongest force with 31%, followed by the AfD with 22%. The SPD and Greens (both 15 percent), FDP (5 percent) and the Left Party (4 percent) follow. With such an election result, the current governing coalition would not have a parliamentary majority.
Election polls are generally always fraught with uncertainty. Among other things, declining party loyalty and increasingly short-term election decisions make it difficult for opinion research institutes to weight the data collected. In principle, polls only reflect the opinion at the time of the survey and are not a forecast of the election outcome.
The Federal Government should consider the public's strong opposition to easing the debt brake, as revealed in the recent surveys. Despite some political parties supporting relaxation of the debt brake, the majority of the population, including supporters of the CDU/CSU and FDP, favor retaining it in its current form.
Source: www.dpa.com
