EXCLUSIVE — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is deep underwater in popular support among the public, according to a new poll.
The chancellor’s collapse in support was reflected in data collected as part of a multinational poll on European leadership conducted by the Tyson Group national research firm.
Scholz’s approval rating sits at a mere 27%, with 70% of German respondents expressing dissatisfaction.
The massive deficit in support for Scholz reflects a larger collapse in support for European Union leadership found in the polling data.
French President Emmanuel Macron faced even worse results, with 74% disapproval compared to 20% approval.
When asked, “Do you feel things in the European Union are headed in the right direction or wrong direction?” the majority of respondents in the Netherlands (59%), France (57%), and Germany (54%) responded that the EU was headed in the “wrong direction.”
Approximately 48% of Italians answered the same, compared to just 20% who said it was headed in the “right direction.”
Portugal stood out as the only nation where more expressed approval (38%) compared to disapproval (33%).
“A significant portion of citizens feel the EU is moving in the wrong direction, largely due to concerns
over its leftist agenda and leaders like European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French
President Macron and German Chancellor Scholz who face high disapproval ratings,” Tyson researchers wrote of their findings. “Many respondents also feel that recent EU election outcomes, which saw significant gains by conservative parties, are not accurately reflected in the EU’s policies.”
Germany is facing the possibility of a massive rightward shift this month after Scholz’s left-wing coalition collapsed earlier this year and set the stage for the Feb. 23 election.
The European power’s center-right party, the Christian Democratic Union, is polling first at 30%, with the much further right-wing Alternative for Germany in second at 21%, according to Politico.
The left-wing Social Democratic Party and the more progressive Green Party are lagging behind at 16% and 13%, respectively.
The AfD made history this month after voting alongside the CDU to push through a proposal addressing irregular immigration in the wake of highly publicized knife attacks committed by migrants.
It was a watershed moment — the first instance of cooperation between a mainstream political party and the “far-right” since the defeat of Nazi Germany.
The AfD, which is heavily promoted overseas by tech billionaire Elon Musk, hopes major gains in parliament will legitimize its anti-immigration policies.
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Tyson’s multinational poll was conducted from Jan. 13 to Jan. 25 and sampled 500 people in each of the five included countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Portugal.
It has a self-reported margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points in each country.
