German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s popularity has slipped in the last few months and dipped four points in the last week alone, due in part to her forced absence after a skiing accident at the end of last year, a poll showed yesterday.
Although conservative Merkel, who has shared power with the Social Democrats (SPD) since mid-December, still enjoys a strong rating of 53%, it has fallen 12 points from the start of October, according to the Forsa survey.
Dubbed “Mummy” by German media, Merkel is regularly voted Germany’s most popular politician and she is the main electoral asset for her Christian Democrats (CDU).
Support for Merkel’s conservative bloc was down one percentage point for the second consecutive week but at 40% is still way ahead of the SPD, unchanged at 24%.
The eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD), tipped to perform well in May’s European elections, gained one point to 5%. Support for the other parties was also unchanged.
Forsa chief Manfred Guellner attributed the decline in Merkel’s popularity to her skiing accident which has left her hobbling on crutches and limited her international exposure.
The SPD is failing to benefit, he added.
The poll was conducted just before the coalition was rocked by a leak about a pornography inquiry into an SPD lawmaker which caused a conservative cabinet minister to resign.