Issue Watch
Track global public opinion on current issues.
- 2008: Race for the White House
- Abortion
- Africa
- Angela Merkel
- Death Penalty
- Economy and Globalization
- Environment
- European Union
- George W. Bush
- Global Warming
- Gordon Brown
- Hamas
- Immigration
- Iran
- Iraq War
- Italy Election 2008
- Kevin Rudd
- Latin America
- Nicolas Sarkozy
- North Korea
- Oil and Gas
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Stem Cell Research
- Stephen Harper
- Terrorism
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Democrats
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Republicans
- U.S. Election 2008: The Primaries
- Vladimir Putin
- Yasuo Fukuda
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Germans Pick Merkel Over Beck as Chancellor
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Germany would choose federal chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) as their head of government, according to a poll by Forsa released by Stern and RTL. 57 per cent of respondents would vote for Merkel if they could directly elect the country’s chancellor.
Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Kurt Beck is a distant second with 15 per cent.
Official results from the September 2005 election to the Federal Diet gave the 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.
On Aug. 31, Merkel said during a visit to Japan that she would like to help emerging economies to develop a fair plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time safeguard their local industries. Merkel, who helped draw up the international Kyoto Protocol on climate change as Germany’s environment minister in 1997, declared: "Once (developing countries) reach the level of industrialized countries, the reduction begins. (...) If we don’t do anything, we have to expect considerable changes in our climate."
Polling Data
If you could vote for the chancellor directly, who would you vote for?
Angela Merkel (CDU) | 57% |
Kurt Beck (SPD) | 15% |
Other / Not sure | 28% |