Table of Contents
- Chart 1: Political Leader Evaluation in September 2024
- Chart 2: Established and Emerging Federal States
- Chart 3: Trust Amongst Supporters' Own Ranks
- Chart 4: Loyalty of BSW and AfD's Supporters
- Conclusion of the Political Leader Assessment
- Voters' trust in Ampel representatives continues to dwindle
Which politicians do Germans believe have the country on a positive path? Data from ntv and RTL's political rating provides an answer. Participants rate 20 politicians on a scale of 0 ("not at all hopeful") to 100 ("completely hopeful"). The ranking compilation by Forsa Institute indicates that in September 2024, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Finance Minister Christian Lindner experience significant setbacks.
Additionally, other members of the traffic light government also see a decline in trust, including Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who still retains the top spot. Notably, CDU leader Friedrich Merz shows improvement, but continues to trail behind union state ministers.
Interestingly, following the victories of the AfD, leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla observe a rise in their rankings. However, newcomer Björn Höcke receives minimal trust from respondents.
Chart 1: Political Leader Evaluation in September 2024
[Graph showing the complete ranking of 20 politicians]
Chart 2: Established and Emerging Federal States
Representatives of the "established" parties perform worse in the new federal states than in the traditional federal states. Conversely, the AfD and BSW enjoy higher trust in East Germany than in the West.
Chart 3: Trust Amongst Supporters' Own Ranks
CSU leader Markus Söder and party founder Sahra Wagenknecht receive the highest support from amongst their own voters, followed by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. Amongst SPD voters, Boris Pistorius has more trust than Olaf Scholz. CDU leader Merz trails Söder within the union camp, as well as behind NRW Minister President Hendrik Wüst and Schleswig-Holstein state leader Daniel Günther.
Chart 4: Loyalty of BSW and AfD's Supporters
Supporters of AfD and BSW place less trust in political figures outside their respective parties than the overall respondents. However, their own leaders Wagenknecht, Weidel, Chrupalla, and Höcke receive better ratings. AfD supporters trust BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht more than BSW supporters trust AfD's top Alice Weidel, Tino Chrupalla, and Björn Höcke.
Conclusion of the Political Leader Assessment
Forsa's pollsters note that eligible voters had maintained a stable level of trust in political figures through the first half of the year. However, trust values for traffic light government members lowered between the middle and end of the year. Notably, the values for Chancellor Scholz and Finance Minister Lindner experienced significant declines.
CDU leader Merz surpasses Scholz but does not garner as much trust from citizens as the three union state ministers. In the new federal states, trust in the "established" parties' representatives is lower than in the West. Supporters of BSW and AfD exhibit less trust in the figures of other parties than in their party leaders.
In Gallery: For the past six months, the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance has remained in existence, and if her plan succeeds, the BSW could become a new "people's party." It's not the first time that Wagenknecht attempts to create political history.
[control_126] ♪ Alice Weidel ♪ successfully increased her ranking in the political leader evaluation after the AfD's victories. I know that her ratings were significantly higher in the new federal states compared to the traditional ones.
