(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Germany prefer incumbent Angela Merkel as head of government, according to a poll by Forsa released by Stern by RTL. 59 per cent of respondents would vote for Merkel if they were allowed to elect the chancellor directly, while 11 per cent would pick Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Kurt Beck. Three-in-ten respondents would not vote for either one of them.

Official results from the September 2005 election to the Federal Diet gave Merkel’s Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian-Social Party (CSU) 226 seats, with the SPD a close second with 222 legislators. Neither of the two main parties was able to assemble a coalition government with their preferred partners. In November 2005, CDU leader Merkel was sworn in as Germany’s first female head of government. The current administration includes members of the CDU, CSU and SPD.

The CDU recently became Germany’s largest party. Beck’s SPD has lost a significant amount of members in recent years. On Jul. 26, Juergen Falter, a political expert, commented on the situation, saying, "You have the Green Party, which was carved out of the flesh of the SPD, and the Left Party, which also took its share of the SPD." Falter did not think Beck’s falling popularity has much to do with the recent migration of SPD supporters, adding, "This development started long before Kurt Beck (became party leader) and there has been no detectable acceleration."

Germany’s next federal ballot is tentatively scheduled for September 2009.

Polling Data

If you were allowed to elect the chancellor directly, who would you vote for?

Source: Forsa / Stern / RTL
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 2,501 German adults, conducted on Aug. 4 to Aug. 8, 2008. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent.

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